Witch!
by rexlover180
Summary: Alfred lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere. His life is boring, until a strange boy comes into town. Everyone suspects him of witchcraft, but will Alfred fall for the ploy?
1. Prologue

Hidden between a dull, almost uninhabited forest and a treacherous, unnamed mountain, there lies a town. A town with a population of around 100 that relies on a large lake with no shoreline that gets it's water from rain for drinking and bathing purposes. A town that has only a small section of farmland that is always abundant with growth.

In this small, forgotten section of the world, the weather is always perfect. There is never a drought, there is never a flood. It's only snowed once, and it didn't halt farming. The rain only helps the crops and the sun is never too intense.

The population is perfect, as well. People die as people are born, the ages of those alive are not varied much. The women all tend to get pregnant at once and do it rarely. The people in the village rarely tend to accept change. It is a rare occasion when someone ventures out into the woods. When they leave, they never come back. Whether they died or just found something more exciting, no one cares. Everyone in town is intent on staying right where they are, and they pass that notion down to their children.

This town was forgotten by almost everything. The Plague had even skipped right over it. Rats were never a problem, probably because they found nothing worth while to steal. Merchants come along through the town on occasion, usually brining news, and leaving with random trinkets, not money, in return from the townsfolk. This town had no need for money, everyone was probably directly related to one another by now, so the town ran on favors.

The last merchant brought news about these beings called witches. They use magic to enchant people. They're known for making men fall in love with them or causing people to fall ill or be injured. Sometimes, they even plague villages with fires or death. These things were vile creatures.

When asked how to find one, the merchant replied with things starting to go "out of the ordinary." And any women practicing odd things they shouldn't be up to.

When asked how to get rid of one, the merchant grew a huge smile. He talked about many ways to execute a witch, all of them involving death. Like placing rocks in their pockets and forcing them to go for a swim. If they died, they weren't a witch, and if they lived, they were to be burned at the stake for being a witch. There were also ways of hanging a witch. You are to hang them, and then kill them twice by drowning. Then you must perform a ritual only a priest would know to make sure that they don't come back.

To kill a witch is hard, the merchant says. They are deadly, vile creatures no one should ever go near.

The merchant took a good look around the town and he could easily sum up what it was like. The town wasn't hard to figure out, they didn't try to be, at least.

"Accept the old, turn away from the new." Those were the last words he spoke before leaving. This made the town even worse about all things new. Nothing new came along, though.

Alfred was born in this town, he was only a kid when that last merchant came along. But now, he was 17, the age of the last boy that ran away from the village, his brother. He wanted to go away, everyone said he could make a great knight. He was strong, tall, and handsome. All the ladies in town said that was all the things that made up a good soldier. They were natural heart breakers, and Alfred was good at that.

He was supposed to be married to this woman in town, she was the only one the same age as him. And, Lord, how she loved him! Abigail would offer to help Alfred in any way she could. She would fetch him water and do anything he asked. She tried to impress him on a daily basis. Sadly, though, Alfred didn't like her back. At all. He had no interest whenever he saw any woman. The other boys in the village would point out older women, talk about how fair they were, but Alfred just couldn't see it.

Eventually, Alfred told Abigail he didn't truly like her back. The next day, the village found her face-first in the lake. After her burial, the town waited about a day for the lake to purify itself before anyone touched it.

Everyone blamed Alfred, but no one more than his parents. They already had plans, they would die together just a couple nights after Alfred would wed Abigail and they would take over right where they had left off the very next day. Just like that. And when Alfred and Abigail had children, a boy and a girl, and name them after Alfred's parents.

Alfred always hated it when his parents talked about their plans for him. Even when he was little, his parents would talk about what toys he was going to play with when he got older. And when Alfred got mad at them, they told him a story. About the evils of the outside world. And how Alfred should always stay in this village and go nowhere.

Alfred would never go out and farm with his parents, the further he could be from them, the better. Rather, he would sit on a big boulder in front of the forest and stare out into it's dark abyss. He wanted to run into those trees and never look back. He wanted to explore the endless twists and turns that the trees would provide. But he found himself unable to move past the boulder. And so he would sit and stare. And dream. Dream about what he could be…

One day, though, something snapped him out of his dream. There was a figure. This wasn't a merchant, he wasn't tall enough. And he staggered around like a drunk man. The closer he got, the more Alfred could see of him. He had blonde hair, but it was dark, dirty. He looked just about Alfred's age, but his clothing choice made him seem a lot older. But his clothes were ragged and dirty, like he had been out and about for a while on his own.

The boy saw Alfred, the two met each other's gaze for a short while. The man's mesmerizing green eyes met with Alfred's startling blue. And then the man ran. He ran right towards Alfred, like his life depended on it. He barely stepped out of the border of the forest when his eyes closed and he started falling towards the ground.

Alfred caught him, just barely before it was too late. He felt so light, like he hadn't ever had a proper meal. His skin was incredibly pale, like he had been in the shadows his whole life. He looked like he was barely alive.

"Help!" he finally managed to call out to the rest of the town. He couldn't allow himself to look away from him, for some reason. He turned towards the town with the boy still in his arms. "Help!"

No one in town wanted to help, that merchant's words still ringing in their ears. No one was even willing to give up food for this young man.

So Alfred forced the matter onto his parents. They reluctantly allowed Alfred to put the boy in their house. They said they would feed him for three days after he woke up, then he had to leave.

Alfred gave him his bed, he would sleep on the floor. He helped the man drink water, tipping his head back and pouring it down his throat. Alfred didn't know why he was caring for this man so much, he should be afraid of the new, just like everyone else. Why was he taking care of a complete stranger?

Was it that thing he saw when their eyes met? That thing…it was so hard to place, yet it was drawing Alfred close to him. Those eyes reflected something. Determination…Anger…Fear…Excitement…There was something in those eyes that Alfred had never seen from anyone in this town. In just one second, this man had more of a variety of emotions than anyone in this town did in their entire lives.

Why did Alfred care? That was the part that irritated him the most…

Alfred noticed the boy was wearing a black cloak over all green clothes. His boots were dark brown and covered in dirt, it was obvious he had been traveling for quite a while.

It had only been a day since the boy arrived in town, and Alfred was sitting on a large rock near the lake. It didn't have a shore, it just dropped off from the grass. It was a good couple feet until you could reach it from the grass. Alfred usually liked sitting by the lake, being able to see the sky in the reflection and watching whatever insect managed to get near it. Supposedly, this lake used to have a lot of fish in it. You could just poke a stick inside it and catch a fish. But, they're all gone now, because the town was greedy and didn't wait long enough for the fish to repopulate. The only reason the water supply didn't run out was because of the rain. But, supposedly, the water line used to reach the grass and out a little farther if there was wind.

Looking into the lake made Alfred think, it always made memories come up, usually of Abigail. She would always follow him around, carrying his water or starting the fire. Sometimes, she even fixed the blankets on his bed. She would offer to cook a lot and his parents would allow her. She was an awful cook, she would usually burn anything she touched, but Alfred would be forced to eat it. And he had to say it was wonderful, or he would get punished. He blamed Abigail for his complete lack of taste in any food he touched.

Alfred was lurched out of his thoughts with the feeling of a weight on his shoulder. A quick glance told him it was a hand. He reacted quickly, standing up from the rock and turning around, getting a good grip on the ground with his feet and then putting his fists in front of him in a protective stance.

He saw the boy from the forest step back in shock, his green eyes wide with fear. He put his palms up in surrender.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" his voice flowed well and evenly, almost majestically.

"No, I'm sorry," Alfred tried to smile as he put his hands down. "I didn't know you were already awake. Are you alright? What happened to you?"

The boy laughed, a beautiful laugh. It was so distracting and pure, it nearly made Alfred forget everything else. "That's a little rude, asking about someone's past before their name."

"Sorry!" Alfred blurted out, rubbing the back of his head. He noticed the man's cloak had a string tied across his chest so that it wouldn't fall off. It looked like it was freshly tied. So this man tried hard to keep up his appearances. "Um, what's your name? Mine's Alfred."

"My name is Arthur," the man laughed again. Everything he said was so dignified, like he was a noble or something. "Would you mind telling me where I am, Alfred?"

"Well, our little hell-hole doesn't quite have a name," Alfred tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a disheartened chuckle. "We aren't even charted on any sort of map or anything. I'm surprised you could even find us. Usually, no one comes along unless they are really dedicated in finding us."

"Well, I wanted to get lost," Arthur looked up at the sky. Alfred looked too, there were only a couple clouds scattered around, there would be no rain any time soon. "So, I asked around for the fastest possible way to do so. A merchant said to find the town that hides behind a secret forest."

"'Find the town that hides behind a secret forest,'" Alfred repeated, he was still looking at the sky. When he looked down, he found that Arthur was staring right at him. "Do you mean our town is really that hidden?"

"You have no idea how large that forest is, do you? It spreads around that mountain and it's called the Forest of Death by the people nearby. The only people known to go into the forest and come out alive are experienced merchants who have gone through worse terrain. They say only a few people have come out that no one has ever seen before. They figured they were from a town. Going into the Forest of Death, though, I can tell why it's called that."

Alfred was intrigued. He sat back down on his rock, crossing his legs. He nodded at Arthur to continue. Alfred had never heard of any tales of adventure, other than things he could come up with on his own.

"There's nothing in there really, I don't think anything could survive in there for long," Arthur smiled at Alfred's notion. It was almost like he was excited to tell a story to someone. "But that's what makes it hard. The trees are like an endless maze, making it impossible to navigate. And with no animals to guide you towards life, it's like you're completely on your own. I was in there for three days and you were the first spark of life that I had seen since I started in there. I was so excited I started to run, but then I remembered how weak I was. So I fainted."

"It took you three days to navigate that forest?" Alfred couldn't believe it, he turned towards the green maze, and he could see Arthur turn towards it in the corner of his eye.

"I know it doesn't look like much from this side," Arthur laughed once more and it almost made Alfred jump. That laugh just had something in it, something magical. "But it looks vast from the other side."

"Right, well, enough just standing around," Alfred cleared his throat. "I think it's about time I showed you around town. It seems like you're gonna be staying around for a while."

"Thank you," Arthur only smiled this time. His teeth looked so white, compared to how his entire outfit was covered in dirt.

"So," Alfred turned his back to Arthur. "To start with the obvious, those are the houses, where people sleep. We don't really have a well, we just use water from the lake to use whenever. Out over there is the farm land, where the adults work most of the day."

"What's that?" Arthur stopped Alfred through most of his explanation. Alfred didn't even have to look to know what Arthur was looking at. And Alfred never liked to look at the thing. It was a tall, 6 foot tall, and thin, 4 feet wide, cage made out of wood from the forest. It was made ages ago, his parents said their grandparents were the ones that built it.

"That's a cage," Alfred muttered. "In this town, we've come up with our own laws. We don't really care much for the outside world's laws. So, if anyone here breaks a law, they go in there. It's in the exact center of town because it's built for public humiliation. Usually, a person will stay in there for 2 days."

"Have you been in it before?" Arthur asked after a short moment of silence.

"What?" Alfred sputtered out and turned around to face Arthur, who was admiring the cage. Alfred had no idea how he could look at that thing like it was amazing. That thing was known for ruining lives in this town.

"You're talking about it like you're uneasy. Have you been in it before or something?" Arthur glanced up at Alfred, their eyes meeting for only a split second before Arthur turned back to his admiring. Alfred couldn't help but notice how Arthur was lighting up by looking at this thing.

"I-I didn't do anything wrong," Alfred stuttered. "They, um, they found this girl dead in the lake. And they blamed me for it. I promise I didn't do anything, but everyone else in town said they knew it was me. So I got put in there."

"They say a woman only kills herself over a broken heart," Arthur stepped away from the cage for a minute. "It could easily have been your fault."

"I never said she killed herself!" Alfred protested.

"No one in this town looks like they could kill by drowning," Arthur sighed, placing a hand on Alfred's shoulder.

Alfred noticed the other townspeople watching them. Every time their eyes fell on Arthur, their faces filled with disapproval. They all scowled at Arthur, trying hard to make sure he saw their expression. All of this didn't seem to phase Arthur, though. It was almost like he was immune to it. It made Alfred think about what his life must have been like before he got here.

Several people started forcefully bumping into Arthur, some missing and hitting Alfred. Those that hit Alfred apologized, and then leaving while making some hideous face at Arthur.

"That is the church," Alfred struggled to focus on his tour of the town and not at ripping the heads off all the rude people. It wasn't much of a building, the church. It looked just like all the other houses, except for the graveyard in front with feeble gravestones and the large, twisted and crooked wooden cross that laid clumsily on the roof. It wasn't even nailed down. It didn't really have a door, but both Alfred and Arthur refrained from going inside.

"I don't like it in there," Alfred shuddered. "And never talk to the priest. He's a horrible person. I've always hated him."

"Why?" Arthur wondered.

"Just wait," Alfred held up a finger upon noticing the priest coming up. Someone was talking with him. "This is gonna be good."

The priest was about 50, looking like the old and grumpy fat man that he was. His hair was white from age and it was hard to tell the colour of his eyes with all of his wrinkles. He was talking with Meredith, the mother of Abigail.

"Oh, Father!" Meredith complained. She looked about ready to grovel at the man's feet, just like every other villager in this town. "I have done all that you asked of me. But George's condition still has not improved. He is sick!"

"Tell me, do you have faith in the Heavenly Father?" the priest took Meredith by the shoulders and she nodded. "That is all you require! Continue as you are and he shall get better eventually!"

"That's just a fancy way of saying he has no idea what to do," Alfred whispered to Arthur.

"I have done that for weeks, Father!"

"I can do no more for you," the priest waved her away, stepping close to the town's church. "Be gone, maiden. Continue praying and be out of my sight. I have more important things to tend to."

The priest saw the two boys standing near the church. He nodded at Alfred and then his face darkened when he looked at Arthur.

"Be gone demon!" he shouted at Arthur, making him jump. "Step no further towards this holy ground! Or feel the wrath of God!"

"Leaving…" Alfred sighed as he turned Arthur around and walked him towards the forest and the rock Alfred liked to sit on.

"I must say I hate him too," Arthur muttered as Alfred sat down at his rock.

"I'm pretty sure the whole town's been thinking the same thing," Alfred muttered. "He's just the first one brave enough to say it."

"Everyone here thinks I'm an evil being?" Arthur asked, he walked ahead of Alfred and looked right into his eyes. Alfred couldn't help but notice that Arthur's hair had gotten cleaner.

"They've been paranoid since a merchant talked about witches," Alfred shoved the thought aside, but he couldn't stop looking at Arthur. "Everyone saw a new bug one day and burned it down with a torch. Don't worry too much about it."

"I've noticed you keep on looking over here at the forest," Arthur decided to change the subject and he turned around to face the forest, so Alfred was now staring at the back of his head.

"Yeah, I've always liked looking at it," Alfred sighed.

"You can come in, if you want," Arthur laughed and it almost made Alfred want to jump up and run through the forest at full speed until he got lost and had to find his way back. "There's nothing in there, so you won't get hurt if you only go a couple yards in."

"N-no, I'm fine," Alfred muttered looking away from Arthur, but he didn't notice. Alfred could feel his face heat up dramatically. "I'm fine with just looking."

"I can tell you want to go," before Alfred knew it, Arthur was right next to him, staring at him. "So, why don't you?"

Why was he so close to him? His face was almost touching Alfred's and his eyes were giant from this close.

"Wh-what?" Alfred asked, it was the only thing he could think to say.

"All you really want to do is leave, but you can't," Arthur was doing something weird to Alfred. He felt something tingle down his spine and it almost made him shudder. "You make a show of pretending that new things don't bother you. But the only reason you can't step foot in that forest is because you are terrified of the unknown. You should try going in there."

The two sat in silence, their faces close to one another, Alfred still feeling like he was about to pass out at any second.

And then Alfred's parents called to him about helping to prepare for dinner. Arthur immediately left his side, leaving Alfred to look out into the forest. It was like he had just been up in the sky and he was dragged down to Earth. His mind crashed back to reality and the forest looked different, somehow. Almost like it was less of an unknown and more of an adventure.

Whatever Arthur just did, it blew Alfred's mind.

* * *

><p><strong>So, this is "Witch!" This chapter is mainly just a prologue, getting to know Alfred's past and gatting to know Arthur a little bit.<strong>

**I got the idea for writing this while watching Season of the Witch. Weird how things come along like that, eh?**

**Please review, so I can continie and this can get interesting!**

**And I own nothing...as usual...**


	2. Fire

Arthur offered to help with supper. He made the fire while Alfred worked with the pig. This village works hard to raise good animals. There was an incident once, where the whole town got sick from the cows. Since, then, the whole town's been working hard to make sure the animals were okay to eat.

Alfred was afraid to tell Arthur any stories about the town. All of Arthur's stories were fantastic and amazing. They were about this magical world Alfred had no idea about. And as for Alfred's stories, they were just of a stupid town that didn't know what it was doing. But Arthur seemed interested anyway. Whenever Alfred would talk about something, he would put his full attention on Alfred, and listen intently.

Supper went by uneventful, except for the fact that neither of Alfred's parents said a word, They just watched Arthur. Waiting, as if he would just jump up and run away with everything they owned. And when everyone went to bed, his parents waited until they knew Arthur was asleep before they even got into their bed. They even purposefully left the fire going, so they could see if Arthur tried anything.

Alfred made sure they were asleep before he put the fire out and went to sleep on the ground right beside his bed.

***Page Break***

Alfred woke up in the middle of the night unable to breath. He opened his eyes and all he could see was a wall of heat and red with a swirling dark cloud floating above him. The heat was starting to get suffocating and it burned his feet as he stood up. He could barely see as he looked around and air couldn't reach his throat. If he didn't try to get out soon, he wouldn't have made it.

He heard something crash to the ground nearby, it sounded heavy, like a part of the roof. And then a muffled cry that could only mean it fell on someone. Alfred looked behind him, where he heard the cry, and he saw an arm protruding from a mass of burning wood. It was struggling against, but only weakly.

It was Arthur.

And then he heard a weak voice calling. It was calling his name. The voice sounded so familiar, feminine. Alfred looked around for it, to see his mother, weak and lying on the ground. It was obvious she couldn't move, the fire must have weakened her. She called out one more time for Alfred, her arms barely snaking forward to try to reach him.

While more of the roof fell on top of Arthur.

He couldn't save them both, that Alfred knew. So, he chose one and set to work trying to get them out.

It was dark outside, which meant that it was still the middle of the night. Alfred was weak, he stumbled out of the burning house, shoving past people running to and from the house with buckets of water. Alfred was holding the one he saved in his arms, but he could only get so far away from the house before he collapsed. He made sure the one he saved landed safely before he crashed onto the ground.

He started coughing and he couldn't stop, nearly curling in on himself to try to stop it. He eventually blacked out while he was coughing.

By the time he had woken up, the daylight nearly blinded him. He started coughing again, but these weren't nearly as strong. He felt cold without the heat of the fire all around him, but a part of him felt warm, almost like someone was touching him, trying to console him.

Alfred looked up and saw Arthur staring at him with caring eyes. He was rubbing Alfred's back, trying to get him to stop coughing. Alfred realized he was lying on his side on the ground. Arthur was in front of him, almost face-to-face, and he was reaching his arm back behind Alfred.

Alfred sat up and waited to allow himself to stop coughing. "Are you okay?" Alfred looked at Arthur. He seemed okay…

"What? I'm fine," Arthur rubbed the back of his head. "Thank you for shoving all that wood off me. I should be asking if you are okay. You're the one that passed out."

"I'm fine," Alfred spoke, a little distracted. "Where are my parents?"

Arthur's expression darkened. He seemed almost sad. "You do remember what happened last night, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, there was a fire," Alfred sighed, shaking his head. "But they got out, right?"

"Alfred, no. They didn't get out," Arthur placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder.

"No!" Alfred stood up. "Th-they got out! They were right behind us when he left, I swear they were!"

"We found their bodies charred," Arthur stood up as well and followed as Alfred went over to the burnt remains of his house. "They probably burned to death in there."

"No!" Alfred refused to admit this obvious fact. "They're alive!"

"They are being buried as we speak, Alfred," Arthur stayed back. "I'm sorry."

"They. Are. Not. Dead," Alfred turned around and almost yelled in Arthur's face.

"Alfred," Arthur snapped and he scowled at Alfred. "I know this is a huge shock to you, but you need to get a hold of yourself. Do not make me hit you."

"You don't look strong enough to be able to make much of an impact," Alfred struggled with a smile. "I'm sorry, let's go to the church."

Alfred tried to keep a straight face as the two walked over to the church. People were packing dirt onto some new graves. By the time they noticed the two, they all completely ignored Alfred and started screaming at Arthur.

"You did this!"

"Damn you to hell!"

"Witch!"

Everyone seemed to agree with the last one and started chanting it, surrounding Arthur and shoving Alfred over to the side. He almost stepped on his parents graves, that's how hard he was shoved.

It was like they had all gone mad from a single fire.

Alfred shoved his way through the crowd, back to the middle, next to Arthur. His body blocked several stones from hitting Arthur.

"Are you all stupid?" Alfred yelled at them and even Arthur seemed shocked by what he was doing. "Just because of one fire, doesn't mean he's a witch! None of it was his fault! He was the first one to fall asleep at my house last night!"

"Alfred, out of the way," one of the crowd shouted at him and he felt a rock hit him in the head.

"No! He didn't do anything!" Alfred stood his ground.

"Then how did that fire start, eh?" another towns person shouted.

"Alfred," Arthur kept an even voice, like this wasn't even scaring him. "Stand down, I can handle this." Alfred felt a weird sensation go up his back.

"No," Alfred looked back at Arthur, tried to make eye contact, but Arthur looked shocked at what just happened.

"I said I can handle myself, so back off," Arthur nearly growled at him and that feeling went off again.

"No," Alfred repeated. He was starting to get tired of saying that word today.

"Yes," Arthur almost hissed at him when Alfred noticed the priest making his way through the angry crowd.

"Alfred, move away," he ordered.

"No!" Alfred felt another stone hit him on the head. "He's not a witch."

"Well, we can find that out, now can't we?" the priest smiled, it was almost like he wanted this to happen. "Let's just fill him up with stones and drop him in the lake."

"And that would be stupid," Alfred said. "Because either way he dies."

Alfred ignored another one of Arthur's protests to protecting him.

"Wouldn't that be a shame?" the priest laughed and looked around at the other villagers. "How about we put him in the cage until we decide what to do?"

This seemed to excite the crowd, they dove in, shoving Alfred out to the side and making sure he didn't get back into it. They had moved over to the cage and Alfred could hear it open and close.

"Shit," Alfred muttered as he tried desperately to get through the crowd one more time. They didn't let him pass for a while, but eventually they all got bored and left. Arthur was sitting in the middle of the cage, looking relaxed.

"This isn't as exciting as I expected from the inside," Arthur sighed, noticing Alfred.

"You have got to be kidding me," Alfred was pissed. "You are going to get killed!"

"But I won't be," Arthur talked a little differently since the day before, Alfred noticed. There was a different air about him that Alfred just couldn't quite grasp.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Alfred shook his head.

"Why do you care so much?" Arthur asked him. "No one has ever been as nice to me as you. Why?"

"What?" Alfred was caught off guard by the question. He had asked himself that multiple times the day before. "I-I dunno. I'm just nice like that." He started rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

"I've encountered nice people before," Arthur sighed. "Most of them leave at this point."

"Does that mean you've been through this before?" Alfred demanded. "What haven't you been telling me?"

"Nothing you should be concerned of," Arthur looked in another direction. "You should go away, forget about me. Life will be back to normal for you in just a while."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Alfred almost yelled at him. "In case you haven't noticed, you are in a cage. And you're about to get killed! I can't just go off to my burned down home and sleep this off!"

"You know people are staring at you, right?" Arthur leaned back against the bars of the cage, like he was getting situated.

"I don't care," Alfred sighed, trying to calm himself down. "You aren't a witch. You shouldn't die."

"I won't die," Arthur sounded like he was getting irritated. "So don't worry about it."

"And how do you know you won't die? How many times have you gone through this before you got here? What aren't you telling me, Arthur?"

"Yes, I've been through this before," Arthur gave out an irritated sigh. "And so I know that whatever your town thinks will happen won't. So you don't need to worry, I will be fine."

"And I don't care what you have to say. You're getting cocky or something from all this time. Quit thinking you're so good and that this won't hurt you."

"I will be fine," Arthur pushed, glaring at Alfred intently. Alfred felt that feeling creep up his spine yet again. It felt so weird, kind of just like what happened right in front of the forest.

"And I don't believe you," Alfred glared right back as Arthur threw his head back, holding it with his hands.

"Why doesn't it work on you, dammit!" Arthur yelled.

"Why doesn't what work?" Alfred asked.

"Nothing," Arthur sighed. "You should go eat, you've been asleep for more than half the day. It looks to be around supper time."

"Are you kidding me? I'm not leaving you alone in here!" Alfred protested.

"You're going to live with some family, you should go find them. I arranged it for you while you were asleep," Arthur sighed.

"Alfred!" the two heard someone behind Alfred and he turned around to find Meredith calling for him.

"You have got to be kidding me, is that who you have me staying with?" Alfred snapped his head back around to Arthur, who shrugged.

"Alfred, get away from him! We need you to help us with dinner!" she kept on calling over to Alfred, but he was intent on ignoring her.

"Is something wrong with her?" Arthur asked.

"She's the mother of that girl found in the lake," Alfred groaned, letting his face fall into his hand. "She hates me."

"She seemed very happy about taking you in," Arthur said.

"Yeah, probably so she can poison me or something," Alfred sighed. "Of all people, you had to choose her! I would rather I sleep in the burned remains of my home…"

"By all means, go ahead," Arthur laughed. "I'll be sleeping in here, so you won't have it worse than me."

"Do I have to go with her?" Alfred asked after hearing Meredith call for him once again. "Her husband is sick, you know."

"I don't believe she will take 'no' for an answer," Arthur laughed as Meredith came up behind Alfred.

"Come, Alfred," Meredith put her hand on Alfred's shoulder. "We don't need you talking with _him_."

"I believe I can talk with whoever I want, thank you," Alfred snapped at her. "I might go home with you, depends on what you're gonna have me make for supper."

"Whatever you like," Meredith sighed. "George is asleep, so he won't be eating with us and I'm not picky when it comes to food."

"Good for you," Alfred sighed as he started to walk away from the cage. He turned back to look at Arthur again before he went into Meredith's home. Arthur was fast asleep, his waist up leaning against the bars of the cage.

Alfred's night with Meredith was not one he considered fun. Throughout dinner, she stared at him, as if expecting him to do something. Which he didn't.

She watched Alfred as he got ready to sleep. And Alfred could feel her eyes on him as he tried to sleep. He was on the floor again this night, and he instinctively woke up in the middle of the night to check for flames. Something bothered him, though, as Alfred tried to return to sleep.

It was odd how comfortable Arthur was with the whole situation. It was almost as if he was running through it like he had gone through it before. A lot. Was that the reason he wanted to get lost and came here in the first place? Everyone thought he was a witch?

Knowing this town, they would probably try to kill Arthur tomorrow, the exact way that merchant had taught them.

Alfred had to stop them…but how?

The next day, Alfred woke up early, he couldn't help himself. It would be a while before the rest of the town woke up, they all ran on the same sleeping schedule somehow, so Alfred decided to go outside and check on Arthur.

Just one glimpse over to the cage told Alfred that Arthur was not taking this seriously at all. He had barely moved since Alfred saw him last and it was obvious he was sleeping. How could he sleep being in there? Alfred remembered his time in the cage and he was far too stressed to even try to talk, let alone sleep. The people in this town could get vicious, so sleeping around them would always be terrifying in that thing.

Alfred sighed, he didn't feel like waking up Arthur yet. So, Alfred decided to saunter on over to his boulder next to the forest. Every since Arthur did…whatever that was…Alfred couldn't look at the forest the same way. Rather than just imagining what it was like in there, Alfred looked for paths. He saw ways to make it through the part of the forest he could see. He noticed a couple of trees that looked like they were about to fall. Better stay away from those…

And then Alfred saw a rabbit. It came hopping from the forest and it paused just before it was about to enter the town. It stood on its hind legs and looked up at Alfred, wiggling it's little pink nose at him.

The thing looked so cute, Alfred wanted to just pick it up and snuggle with the thing.

But before Alfred could take a step towards it, there was a loud sound behind them and the rabbit ran away, disappearing into the green mass that was the forest.

Alfred turned around to see what the noise was. Someone was shouting at Arthur, chucking a stone at his head.

"Hey!" Alfred shouted, storming over to the guy, standing between him and the cage. Arthur was awake, his eyes wide with disbelief that his slumber had been woken up because of this. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"The thing's a witch!" the man scowled at Arthur, all but ignoring Alfred.

"Arthur is a human!" Alfred corrected him.

"Alfred, stop," Arthur spoke and Alfred felt that familiar sensation crawl up his spine.

"No, Arthur, be quiet," Alfred snapped.

"Kind sir," Alfred was surprised to see Arthur's attention on the man, still with rock in his hand. "Would you please leave me alone for the time being?" Alfred felt the feeling again, but this time it was weaker.

The man grumbled something unintelligible as he walked away slowly.

"What?" Alfred asked, dumbfounded. "How did you…?"

"Persuasion," Arthur yawned. "Jesus, he woke me up so early."

"That's all you're worried about?" Alfred sighed. "He was chucking rocks at you, yelling on and on about you being a witch! And you're complaining about not getting enough sleep?"

"Yes," Arthur nodded. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get some more."

"Good luck with that," Alfred snorted.

"Why is that?" Arthur asked, sounding like he really didn't care all that much.

"Because everyone's gonna be waking up right about now," Alfred stretched his hands behind him and he heard the doors from the houses start to open and close. "And knowing them, they're gonna be impatient."

"Which means?" Arthur asked.

Alfred held up three fingers, which turned to two, then one. And then he was shoved out of the way by angry people, shouting. They sure wake up fast.

Alfred could hear Arthur, for once, struggle against the townsfolk. And Alfred's sense of danger finally came up again and he devised a plan.

Knowing exactly what they were going to do, Alfred ran for the lake. He went around the huge crowd, making his way over to the side of the lake.

Alfred could hear Arthur shouting, "The hell? Get off of me!" There was more arguing as he struggled. Alfred just knew they were shoving rocks at him.

And then he saw Arthur shoved in front of the crowd and, sure enough, Alfred could see a giant rock in his hands. And then he was shoved into the lake. That was when Alfred made his move and ran towards the lake. With his running start, he dove into the lake, hoping it wasn't as shallow as he always thought it was. He forced himself to open his eyes so he could see and search around for Arthur.

The water was surprisingly clear, so Alfred found him quickly. Arthur was desperately trying to swim his way upward, but it was obvious that he had a rock stuck on top of his foot.

Alfred swam over as fast as he could. This was rather difficult, considering he had never swam before, and he was starting to loose his breath. Arthur couldn't see him, his eyes were closed, so to stop him from thrashing around, Alfred placed a hand lightly on his shoulder. His eyes snapped open and looked shocked to see Alfred.

Alfred shoved the rock off Arthur's foot as his vision started tunneling. He was starting to suffocate and he could feel it. But he fought not to gasp for air under water. He knew very well what that would mean.

Alfred had no knowledge of how to get upward now that he was at the bottom of the apparently very deep lake. He felt someone grab his arm as he closed his eyes and soon he was tugged upwards.

As soon as Alfred felt fresh air on his face, he took in a sharp breath. Quickly, he opened his eyes and hoisted himself up onto the grass next to the lake. He saw Arthur doing the same and grabbed onto his wrist as soon as he was on the ground.

"Run," Alfred ordered. He tried to say more, but he was still catching his breath.

Alfred ignored the violent shouts of he townsfolk as he dragged Arthur into the forest. It was sunny outside, but the shade of the trees made it seem almost like night. He almost tripped over roots and almost banged his head into branches, but he kept moving. He was desperately gasping for air still, and he could have sworn he heard Arthur doing the same as the two raced into the forest.

"Go right!" Arthur ordered and Alfred obeyed. He had been through the forest before, right? He must have left some kind of landmarks.

They ran for a while longer before Alfred let go of Arthur, fell back onto a tree and slid down to the ground. He didn't care that the bark cut his skin, all he wanted was to rest and to breath.

"So, care telling me why you did that?" Arthur panted.

"I was screwed anyway," Alfred gasped. "They would have hated me for trying to protect you so much. Besides, it didn't look like you had things handled like you said you would from where I was."

"I was getting to it," Arthur sighed and sat down next to the tree next to Alfred. "I was trying to do…something. But for some reason it didn't work."

Alfred noticed Arthur staring at him intently. "What are you looking at?" Alfred asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Arthur sighed, laying his head against his tree and looking upwards. The sky was completely blocked out by the leaves in the trees. It was funny, Alfred noticed that, even in the winter, these trees never lost their leaves.

"We should rest," Alfred decided.

"Yeah."

"Do you know how to get out from here?" Alfred asked.

"Not a clue."

"Great."

* * *

><p><strong>And here is chapter 2! Everyone knows at least a little about the witch hysteria. So that's why the townspeople overreated because of a single fire. And I know Arthur is not a girl, but I don't think it makes as much impact if people are yelling "Sorcerer!" at him than it does with "Witch!" you know?<strong>

**So, I didn't get any reviews and I got barely any views last chapter, and I finally figured out why... I said that the second main character was Egypt, not England. Let's see what happens now that I've fixed that...**

**Please review, so I can continue and this can get interesting!**

**And I own nothing...as usual...**


	3. The Woods

They rested for a while. Not knowing whether it was night or day, Alfred fell asleep. Arthur said he would keep watch. They hadn't moved since they had collapsed from exhaustion. Alfred trusted Arthur to keep his word, and he slept.

Alfred dreamt of Abigail, for some reason he didn't know. He dreamt of her messing up the kitchen with some new concoction she had come up with. And then failing at cleaning up her mess. She recruited a reluctant Alfred to help her. Fun.

This was the day she repeatedly tried to kiss him. When Alfred knelt down in an attempt to try to help her pick things up from the ground, she leaned towards him, her eyes closed. Alfred, not being one for sensing the mood, stood up and watched her fall.

"Um…are you okay?" was all he could ask her, rubbing the back of his head.

It happened again when Abigail forced Alfred to help her stir her black stew. She kept a hold of the spoon, though, demanding Alfred taught her how to do it right. Alfred didn't know how to do it, so he clumsily grabbed her hand and tried to stir in circles. In all honesty, the position looked romantic. He had his arm around her, embracing her from behind like it was a hug, and her eyes were closed and she was smiling. Her hand wasn't doing a thing. And then she turned around to try to see if she could steal her kiss from Alfred. But he took her sudden shift away as an okay to move to her side, officially taking the spoon from her. She fell again.

And Alfred asked once more, "Are you okay?"

She tried again when they ate. She was constantly moving her chair closer to Alfred's until they were touching. She didn't touch her food, she was nervous. Alfred didn't touch his food, he didn't want to be poisoned. They were alone in Alfred's home, the scene only lit by two candles on the table. It was dark outside and Alfred wondered what his parents were doing, staring in through the window, no doubt. Eventually, she muttered something that Alfred couldn't hear and she placed her hands on his. She looked up at Alfred and smiled.

She leaned in towards him, and Alfred leaned back. He had no idea what she was doing. She closed her eyes and leaned more towards him. Alfred leaned back even further. Abigail leaned forward even more and this time when Alfred tried to pull away, he fell onto the floor, Abigail right on top of him.

"Um, are you okay?" Alfred asked after catching his breath.

"Dammit!" Abigail all but screamed, scrambling off him. "Can't you see it?"

"See what?" Alfred asked, he was still on the floor.

Alfred woke up to the dark forest, he had no idea how long he was out, but he knew it must have been a while when he saw Arthur sleeping. Alfred sat himself up more and leaned against his tree. He looked left and right, but both directions looked exactly the same. Same trees, same bushes, same winding paths. It was so confusing! Alfred had no idea how Arthur got through here.

"Arthur," Alfred crawled over to his sleeping companion and tentatively poked him in the temple. "Arthur…"

Arthur groaned and squinted his eyes open. Upon seeing Alfred, his eyes shot open and he sat upright.

"I fell asleep?" he demanded.

"Yeah, sorry I slept for so long," Alfred chuckled.

"How-how long was I asleep?" Arthur asked.

"I have no idea, I just woke up," Alfred muttered.

"Great," Arthur stood up.

"So…how do we get out of here. You've been here before, right?"

"Yes," Arthur sighed. "And it's gonna take a while. This forest is huge, there's no way to navigate it simply."

"Come on!" Alfred looked up at the leaves. "There's gotta be some way to get through here faster!"

"Maybe there is," Arthur followed Alfred's eyes. "Do you know if you can climb a tree?"

"Never tried," Alfred said.

"Well, let's see if you can," Arthur said as Alfred stood up. He turned towards the tree he was resting against. "This one looks good enough," he turned back towards Alfred. "If you can get to the top of the trees, maybe you could look over the forest and find a quick way through."

"And why can't you do this, smart one?" Alfred asked.

"I'm-uh-not the strongest person in the world," Arthur blushed.

"Can't lift your own weight?" Alfred chuckled and turned his attention to the tree. He found a branch just above his head and grabbed onto it. "Here goes nothing…"

Alfred was surprisingly good at climbing a tree. He made it halfway in no time. The branches were very stable and could hold more than his own weight. And he was a lot more nimble than he ever thought he was. This was what he got for staying in that stupid town for so long. Wasted talent…

It only started getting hard when the branches started getting smaller and thinner. He had to move his feet carefully, spreading his weight evenly. And had to make sure not to lift up too much weight when moving up a level. And then there were the leaves that kept on poking him in the eye. It only got worse the higher he got on the tree.

Luckily, these trees weren't giants, they were actually fairly small. So, after carefully placing his feet one last time between a forked branch, Alfred poked his head above the tree line.

As it turned out, it was around the middle of the day, the sun was right above Alfred's head. Alfred looked around for a little bit, having trouble taking in how big this forest actually was, it branched on for what seemed like forever in most directions. But, to Alfred's left, the forest opened up to what looked like a town. There were many house like buildings and people who looked like ants from this far away were walking to and fro.

"Found our path!" Alfred said, crouching down so his head was back in the forest to look back at Arthur.

"Good, now be careful coming back down," Arthur warned, but Alfred wasn't really paying attention.

Alfred's eyes had problems adjusting to the dark of the forest, so nothing looked really the same as when he was climbing up. Alfred tried to place his foot somewhere, but it turned out that a branch wasn't there, so he slipped.

Instinctively, Alfred grabbed onto a branch above his head and he hung there for a little bit.

"Alfred?" Arthur called up, his voice thick with worry. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Alfred grunted as he swung his legs to connect with a branch below him. "Slipped."

"Please be careful," Arthur sighed. "A fall from up there could kill you."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," Alfred said as he missed his legs and continued hanging by his arms. He heard a crack above him, saying that the branch won't be able to hold him for too much longer. "Really helps the cause."

Alfred removed his left hand from the branch and reached it back to a different branch to try to even out his weight. He then positioned his left foot onto a branch just behind him. It was not a comfortable position.

"That doesn't look quite right," Arthur commented.

"I'm sure it doesn't," Alfred growled as he began to move his right foot, but the branch his right hand was still on completely snapped off. All of Alfred's weight went behind him and his foot slipped off the branch. All of the sudden weight on the branch his left hand was on caused that one to snap, too. And Alfred started to fall down backwards. Branches snapped around him and he felt like yelling, but before he could start, he felt an impact of something catching him. And then he felt an overwhelming tingling feeling shooting up his back.

He looked around and found himself in the struggling arms of Arthur, who looked about ready to pass out form all the weight he was holding.

"Dear God, you're fat," Arthur muttered.

The feeling that shot up Alfred's back gave him a massive headache. And then he felt nauseated. It wasn't shock from the fall, he knew that. It was like the feeling he felt back in his town, but 100 times stronger.

"I'm gonna puke," Alfred muttered as he made himself tumble out of Arthur's arms. The minute he fell onto his knees on the ground, though, the feeling was gone. He stretched his arms out in front of him to help catch himself, and they were almost shaking.

"A-Alfred, are you okay?" Arthur knelt down in front of him.

"I-I think I'm fine," Alfred muttered. "Must have been from the fall," he lied.

"Right," Arthur obviously didn't believe him.

"We're going that way," Alfred pointed to beyond the tree, where he saw that town. "It doesn't look very far away from here."

"Okay," Arthur whispered. "Need help getting up?" he held out a hand for Alfred, but he shook his head.

"I'm fine," Alfred got up. He didn't want to touch Arthur again, just in case he felt that feeling again. Did this happen last time he touched him? He couldn't remember with the heat of the moment… "Let's go."

"If you say so," Arthur said.

Alfred led the way, trying to stay in a straight line as Arthur followed him through the forest. They walked in silence and it seemed to Alfred that it took forever for them to get anywhere. They're surroundings never seemed to change, this forest was never-ending.

And now he was starting to get hungry.

Eventually, the forest seemed to start to thin out and Alfred could see the sun through the trees. It was beginning to set. Eventually, Alfred could see the town and everyone was starting to go into their homes for the night.

"I think we should spend the night in the forest," Arthur spoke up nervously.

"Hm? Why?" Alfred turned around and leaned against a tree. "Scared of the town?"

"I've been here before," Arthur awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "And it didn't turn out well…"

"So does every town you go to think you're a witch?" Alfred raised an eyebrow.

"No," Arthur shook his head. "Some say that I'm a wizard, but that rarely happens. Witch just kind of happens a lot."

"So you're just a bad luck magnet," Alfred chuckled.

"I wouldn't consider it bad luck," Arthur laughed. "As long as I can get away, nothing bad happens."

"So, let me get this straight. If any of them see you, they're gonna start freaking out and screaming? And then they're gonna try to kill you?"

"Yeah, again," Arthur now leaned against a tree, too.

"Again?" Alfred laughed. "How many times have people tried to kill you?"

"A lot," Arthur sighed.

"Yeah," Alfred said. "We can stay here over night."

"Thank you," Arthur said.

"Want me to get wood for a fire? So we don't get cold?" Alfred offered.

"No, I think that may make them notice us and I don't want to start a forest fire," Arthur sighed as he went to sit down at the base of the tree.

"And you intend on using your cloak to keep warm?" Alfred chuckled as he, too, sat down.

"No, I have an idea on how to keep warm," Arthur muttered and looked uneasy.

Alfred notice him move his hand just barely and he could feel that feeling tingle down his back. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as last time. All of a sudden, the area around them got slightly warmer.

"Okay, how'd you do that?" Alfred raised an eyebrow.

"Do what?" Arthur asked innocently.

"You moved your hand and it got warmer," Alfred said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. My idea was just to imagine it being warmer. It always works for me," Arthur shrugged as he situated himself against the tree.

"Whatever," Alfred gave up. "You should sleep some, you seem tired. I bet I can keep watch better than you did."

"I will try not to take offense to that," Arthur muttered as he closed his eyes. He could trust Alfred enough to keep watch, right?

Alfred watched Arthur doze off and made sure the guy was asleep before he got up and started pacing. He couldn't help but wonder, what was going to happen to him now? He didn't know anything about the outside world, he didn't know any real laws, just the ones his village set up. He didn't know how to hunt that well, and he couldn't cook to save his life. The only thing he was worth was maybe his strength.

He wouldn't be able to make it on his own and staying with Arthur seemed very dangerous, to be honest. If what he was saying was right, many people had tried to kill him many times. Sure, he seemed he might know his way around, but what would that help if they would be chased from town after town with torches and pitchforks?

On top of all this, Alfred was hungry. Scratch that, he was far from hungry. He would be willing to eat anything right now. He would have snatched leaves from the trees but he had no way of knowing if it would hurt him or not.

Alfred yawned. He couldn't be tired all ready! And he had promised Arthur he would keep watch. Well…what would there be to watch here? This forest was uninhabited, right? And the rest of the town would be asleep for a while…

Alfred eventually gave way to his cunning intellect and went back over to his tree. He got situated really quick and yawned one last time. The last thing he noticed when he started dozing off was that it was starting to get cold again. And the feeling in his spine was starting to lessen.

Alfred could feel something was wrong. He wasn't dreaming, and he woke up without opening his eyes. He felt like there was someone staring at him, so he figured it must have been Arthur disapproving at his dozing off.

However, Alfred was caught off guard when he opened his eyes. He found ruby red eyes staring right into his.

"Jesus Christ!" Alfred recoiled, standing up and leaning against his tree.

The man with the red eyes in front of him, who also happened to have white hair, began laughing to the point where he looked like he was about to fall over. It wasn't much of a laugh, though. It sounding kind of like "ksekseksekse!"

"Ha! Dude, that was awesome!" the albino held his stomach. He sounded slightly…German.

"Who the hell are you?" Alfred demanded.

"I'd say you aren't in much of a position to say that, but I'll tell ya 'cause I'm awesome," the albino grinned, flashing a smile as white as his hair. Alfred had a bad feeling about this guy. "My name is Gilbert, pleasure to meet you."

"Right, okay," Alfred looked beyond Gilbert to where Arthur was resting. He wasn't there. "Where did you take my friend," it was less of a question and more like a demand to take him to Arthur.

"We moved him," Gilbert looked at his nails. "In case you didn't know, he's very special, so he shouldn't just be laying here with only you to protect him."

"Wait, wait, wait," Alfred closed his eyes. "Who's 'we?' And what do you mean by moved? And are you saying I can't protect Arthur‽"

"Look, I'm not here to answer all of your stupid questions," Gilbert crossed his arms impatiently. Alfred finally paid attention to his outfit. His shirt had white puffy sleeves and the rest of it was black. His pants looked like black leather, as did his boots. He had a sword sheathed at his side, and his hand looked poised to pull it out. "Just follow me. I can't believe the awesome me got stuck with the stupid job of getting you."

"Really?" Alfred asked. "You're calling me stupid? If Arthur is just that special, then you should thank me for saving him from dying back at my village!"

"You know his first name?" Gilbert questioned.

"Um, yeah, pretty sure," Alfred grinned at Gilbert's shocked expression.

"You're coming with me," Gilbert gripped Alfred's wrist with an iron grip and started dragging him into the forest.

"Aw, come on! I just came from there! I don't wanna come back!" Alfred complained, trying to writhe out of Gilbert's grip. A wave of nausea came over Alfred once again.

"Shut up, do you want that town back there to know we're here?" Gilbert snapped and Alfred gritted his teeth.

"So, what do you mean by moved?" Alfred asked, quieter this time.

"He was too close to the town. They had already called some knights from the last time Kirkland was there. They came pretty close to finding you two, luckily Kirkland did a good job hiding you two. Don't know how he could, considering he was asleep, but that's Kirkland for you."

"Why are you calling him Kirkland?" Alfred asked, feeling dizzy and weak. That feeling made him want to just drop and curl into a ball.

"That's what everyone calls him. Rarely anyone knows his first name."

"Uh-hu," Alfred used his hand not being gripped by Gilbert to hold his head. "Shit…" he felt horrible and started stumbling around the forest. He tripped over roots and slammed his head against branches.

"Are you okay?" Gilbert asked after a while, stopping for Alfred to catch his breath.

Alfred shook his head. "I'm gonna puke," he muttered and Gilbert immediately let go of his hand. Alfred knelt down and closed his eyes. It was almost like Gilbert letting go of him made him feel all better. "The hell…?"

"You okay now?" Gilbert asked.

"This happened before, too," Alfred was mainly talking to himself, Gilbert was just there to listen. "When he caught me I felt like shit. But right when he let me go, I felt fine."

"So that means you're fine?" Gilbert asked.

"Yeah, just don't touch me," Alfred nodded and began following Gilbert through the forest again. "So, where is this 'we' you were talking about?"

"Not too much farther," Gilbert said.

Alfred already started to feel warm, they must have had a fire going. The heat got more and more intense as they got further into the darkness. And then there was an orange light in the distance that confirmed Alfred's suspicions. He hadn't noticed it until now, but he was freezing. He felt like running towards that light, but he had a feeling Gilbert would slit his throat if he did anything too fast.

Alfred followed Gilbert until they found a makeshift clearing in the forest. It was maybe a hundred feet in diameter and in the shape of a circle. There were random stumps everywhere telling Alfred that this clearing wasn't natural. In the dead center of it was a fire as tall as him. How had he not seen that sooner? When Alfred looked around even more, he spotted two other people, dressed the same as Gilbert. One had chocolate brown hair, though, and green eyes. The other had long, flowing blonde hair and sea-blue eyes.

"The awesome me had brought the twerp!" he announced loudly to the two.

"Good job, Gilbert," the man with brown hair spoke, he had some type of Spanish accent. He had a black on with a gold feather sticking out of it. It was obvious he was the leader of this group. The man turned his attention to Alfred.

"So, you are traveling with Kirkland?" he asked seemingly impatiently.

"Um, yeah," Alfred said, slightly irritated. He tried looking beyond the Spaniard to find Arthur, but he stayed planted in his way. "Who are you?"

"Tell me what your name is," the man seemed to completely ignore anything Alfred had just said.

"Alfred," Alfred twitched. This guy was annoying him.

"So, how close exactly are you to Kirkland?" the man placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder and that feeling coursed through him once again. He almost fell over immediately, it was all he could do stand up and not puke his guts out.

"Not very," Alfred muttered out and closed his eyes tight. Why did this keep happening to him?

"Ah, I see," the Spaniard spoke, but Alfred didn't hear. He took this chance to look around the clearing for Arthur, but he found it incredibly hard to concentrate considering the circumstances. He thought he could see a figure leaning against a tree, the blonde haired one guarding him.

The Spaniard spoke again, it sounded like a question Alfred didn't hear.

"What?" Alfred squinted, his legs felt like jelly and he was getting a massive headache.

"You are an idiota, aren't you?" the man chuckled. "I will say this so you can understand," he then got really close to Alfred's ear, as if he believed he was hard of hearing or something. "You seem close enough to him to earn at least a little money. So we're gonna keep you."

"Wh-what?" Alfred asked and would have shoved this man away, but he had no strength. So he just kind of stood there, groggy. He noticed Gilbert pull out his sword.

"Gilbert," the man stepped away from Alfred, just long enough for Alfred to see what was going on. Gilbert smashed the hilt of his sword against Alfred's head.

The world went black.

* * *

><p><strong>And so here is chapter 3. I plan on having more action as this story goes on! And I got this idea of having the Bad Touch Trio be kind of like the 3 Musketeers, but a little different version. You'll find out in the next chapter.<strong>

**Please review, so I can continue and this can start to get really interesting!**

**And I own nothing...as usual...**


	4. KidnappedAgain

Alfred woke up to a horrible headache. He tried to put a hand to hold his head, but he found that hard to do. He tried to move it even more and he felt a pressure on both of his wrists. His left arm moved with his right. He moved his fingers a little bit and found that they touched each other.

Alfred opened his eyes and tried to look around, but the world was sideways. His face was pressed against the grass and he was facing a giant fire right in front of him. Alfred tried to move his feet, but they were in the same predicament as his hands. He looked down to them and found that they were bound very tightly by a rope.

Alfred moved his head around, trying to find out if he could see anything around him. All that proved was getting him noticed.

"Oh, he's awake!" that was a voice Alfred hadn't heard before. It sounded extremely French. Soon, bright blue eyes were looking right at him.

"Holy shit!" Alfred nearly screamed and backed away. He had somehow managed to get himself sitting up in the process. "Get the hell away from me!"

"No need to worry monsieur," the man knelt down to Alfred's level and held his chin, despite Alfred's massive efforts to get away. "We won't be doing anything to you…yet." Alfred really wanted to punch that grin off his face.

"Quit tormenting him, frog," Arthur's voice rang out and Alfred sighed with relief. He was okay.

"Would you prefer I torment you, mon cher?" the man turned his attention away from Alfred to look over to his right, but keeping his hand on Alfred's chin so he couldn't look that way, too.

"Shut the hell up!" Arthur snapped and Alfred tried fumbling with the ropes around his wrists behind his back.

"Francis," the Spaniard started talking and Alfred could look up just enough to see him towering behind the man, who he now supposed his name was Francis. "Go back to where you were."

Francis gave one last look to Alfred, eyeing him up and down, Alfred noticed he kept his gaze on his lower parts longer than the rest of his body. Then Francis stood up and walked away from Alfred.

Immediately after having his chin released, Alfred looked over to where Francis looked to find Arthur tied to a tree, his arms at his sides. He was sitting cross-legged against the tree. When he met Alfred's gaze he smiled slightly and nodded.

"I apologize about Francis," the Spaniard sighed and Alfred's attention snapped back to him. He was still standing in front of Alfred, but far enough back so that Alfred didn't have to crane his neck to see him. "He's a bit…eccentric."

"I can tell," Alfred said, making sure he sounded annoyed. "Who are you?" Alfred ordered.

"You haven't heard of us? That's a shame," the Spaniard scoffed. "We are the Three Musketeers."

"You're not that amazing, Antonio," Arthur chuckled. "You're just a confessed witch fighting to survive."

"Won't have to fight very hard after I turn you in, Arthur," Antonio spat in Arthur's direction. "And I'm sure he'd be worth something, too."

"Not much, I think," Alfred heard Gilbert's voice and tried to look around for him, but couldn't find him. He must have been on the other side of the fire.

"Hey!" Alfred complained.

"He might be worth a little more than you think," Arthur countered.

"He said you're a confessed witch," Alfred tried, wanting to change the subject. "How are you out here and not…I don't know…dead?"

"I will have you know, we are not like every other witch," Antonio said proudly. "The three of us have a little thing in common," Alfred supposed he meant him and the other two. "Our normal magic isn't very powerful, but we have a talent. A talent to detect when other witches are around. With that talent, we are found useful. So, we have knights that follow us while we find witches. We gain a small fortune for it and stay alive."

"So you're a real witch?" Alfred's tone was flat. "I don't believe a witch can exist."

"What?" Gilbert snapped, now coming into Alfred's view.

"I don't believe in real witches," Alfred tried to shrug, but that was hard with his hands tied behind him. "I think it's just an excuse for panicked people to blame random things on. Like a fire, or death."

"I can guarantee you, kid," Gilbert glared at Alfred, "we are real."

"Sure, whatever you say," Alfred sighed.

"How you can be around mon cher and still not believe in magic is beyond me," Alfred could hear Francis.

"And what is that supposed to mean, frog?" Arthur demanded.

"Just that you use your magic _a lot_," Antonio said. "We could feel you in that town from miles away."

"Are you saying Arthur's a witch now, too?" Alfred groaned.

"Heh, you don't even know the half of it," Gilbert chuckled.

Alfred shuddered, he felt that tingling feeling creep up his spine again. He stole a glance to Arthur, who he noticed was starting to wriggle through his ropes. Alfred could see Arthur's hand. He was pointing a finger at him and moving it in a circle. He was telling him to distract them.

"So if you're a witch, let me see your powers," Alfred said.

"Why should I show you my awesome powers if you don't even believe in them?" Gilbert scowled.

"Well, I just figured, if you're so great and all," Alfred felt another feeling tingle up his spine and he felt his ropes loosen, "you would have no problem using magic for a pathetic little peasant like me."

"What are you playing at?" Antonio glared at him.

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Alfred stared up at him innocently as he worked his hands free. He kept them behind him, though, so they couldn't see.

"Toni!" Francis cried out and Alfred looked over to see Arthur running towards him. Alfred quickly pulled his feet free and stood up.

"Later, loosers!" Alfred saluted them before Arthur took hold of his wrist and they started running through the woods.

Someone was screaming in Spanish behind them as they ran and Alfred began to feel nauseated and his whole body ached.

"L-let go of me," Alfred slurred to Arthur.

"What?" Arthur panted. Alfred knew they were running in the wrong direction, deeper into the forest. He needed to give directions, but that feeling was pressing against his skull and he could barely talk.

"I said, let go!" Alfred stopped running right there and Arthur had to let go. Arthur stared at him and Alfred pointed with his thumb behind him. "Town's that way."

"Right," Arthur rolled his eyes as Alfred turned around and they started running the opposite way through the forest. Alfred fled, twisting through the trees effortlessly and hoping that Arthur was following him.

It didn't take long for them to breach the forest, running right through the town at midday, by the looks of the sun.

There were screams from women as the two ran as fast as they could through the town. And Alfred flinched at the sound of metal clinking. That was armor, there were knights in this town. The metal clinked louder and faster, telling Alfred that they were now being followed.

"Well don't just stand there, catch them!" Alfred could hear a voice behind them. It boomed out orders to who he supposed were the knights. And Alfred couldn't help but think about that voice. It had such an odd accent.

Alfred looked back really quick to see who it came from. All he could see was knights following close by and a man in the background with silver hair, violet eyes, and a scarf. And then Alfred's vision was clouded in darkness again. Alfred looked around and it seemed that he was in another forest. The trees were much taller in this one. Taller and thinner. And he could see little patches of the sun hit the ground in certain places. He had no problems finding animals in here, he almost tripped over a rabbit and almost got trampled by a deer as he was running.

"Alfred, we can stop now," Arthur panted behind Alfred and they both slowed to a jog, then to a walk, then they stopped. Alfred leaned his head and arm against a tree, ignoring the massive pain from the splinters.

"What the hell was that?" Alfred demanded, still panting himself.

"What?" Arthur asked.

"Back there, with the Three Musketeers," Alfred mocked their name. "You knew them. They went on and on about being witches and they called you a witch. Explain."

"Alfred, I don't think it's that important. Just drop it." Arthur tried to sound convincing and Alfred could feel that feeling crawl up his spine.

"Explain," Alfred demanded.

"Alright, alright," Arthur said. Alfred leaned off of his tree so he could go face to face with Arthur, make sure he was telling the truth. "It goes like this. I-"

Arthur stopped mid-sentence, and Alfred was about to ask why, but he heard the clink of armor.

"Shit!" Alfred yelled out, but it was too late for them to flee.

Alfred could see, then felt cloth enter his mouth. It went around to the edges of his mouth and he could feel it tied around the back of his head tightly, it was meant to gag him. Then Alfred's hands were pulled together behind him and pulled back sharply. Alfred tried to cry out in pain, but it was muffled by his gag. He saw someone's hand come into his vision and completely blocked out the forest.

Before he knew it, Alfred was being dragged backwards. His heels dug into the ground, but that didn't seem to do anything. He could feel the metal of the knight's armor behind him, jabbing into his back. Alfred tried to fight back, writhe free, but the knight kept such a tight grip on him, it was all futile.

Alfred tried to say something, be the smart ass he was known to be, but his gag prevented him from saying anything. He even almost gagged on his gag.

After a while, Alfred was shoved harshly into a tree. He let out a muffled cry as his head slammed against the wood. Before he even had a chance to move, Alfred felt pressure on the top of his head and he was forced to sit down. His shirt lifted up slightly as he slid, causing splinters all along his back. And then he felt something like a rope go across his chest and press him up against the tree. It went across him again and the constriction got tighter. The rope went around again, and again, and again.

Alfred hadn't noticed until now, but he was keeping his eyes shut. Just as soon as he opened them, a blindfold was set around his head. It was tied loosely compared to the ropes and the gag. Alfred was finding it hard to breath with the combined forces of the rope and the gag. He was panting more than necessary. And he still tried to struggle free from his bonds, even trying to dig his heels into the ground to push himself up. Nothing worked, he was stuck being only able to hear. He had just noticed the commotion going on outside of his own fight.

"L-let me go!" he could hear Arthur demand.

"But that wouldn't be as much fun, da?" Alfred heard that voice again. The voice that boomed through the village, but this time it was softer. He was just talking now, but his voice was insanely creepy. It almost sounded like he giggled as he spoke.

"Get the hell away from me," Arthur growled.

"You're so much more entertaining than those three you left behind," that man giggled again.

"Don't touch me!" Arthur yelled.

"I can touch you as much as I want, comrade," the man said and Alfred could hear shuffling on the grass. There was a small commotion and it sounded like a wooden door was slammed.

"Don't you dare touch Alfred," Arthur warned as Alfred felt something close to doom come close to him. This man must have had some aura…

"And why are you so important to Arthur?" the man muttered to himself, he sounded so close to Alfred and he held his breath. Alfred felt someone fumbling with his blindfold and he closed his eyes as the blindfold fell from his face and onto his lap.

Alfred felt a leather gloved hand cup his chin and lift his head up.

"Why don't you look at me, da?" the man spoke and Alfred still couldn't place that accent. Alfred tried to shake his head, but the man's hand held it still.

"Alfred, you can open your eyes, it's not that big of a deal," Arthur sighed.

Alfred tried to say something like "I'm fine," but it just came out as a muffled mess because of the gag.

The pressure on Alfred's chin increased to a point where it hurt. Alfred wanted to grit his teeth, but the cloth in his mouth made that incredibly hard.

Alfred barely opened his eyes to glare at the man, but his glare softened, and then widened at the sight before him.

This man was intimidating. His violet eyes emanated fear that made Alfred almost whimper. From the sound of the man's voice, Alfred would have figured he would be scowling at him, but he had on a smile. A smile that could have made milk curdle and made Alfred feel like he wanted to turn tail and run.

"Ah, you have pretty eyes," the man giggled. That sound made Alfred shudder. The man didn't release the pressure on his chin.

Alfred wanted to do something. Say some smart comeback, punch this guy in the face, or even spit in his eye, but he couldn't move anything at this point. He found that this man was also sitting on his legs, so kicking him was out.

The man's expression darkened and he seemed to glare at Alfred. "Now what makes you so important?" Alfred shuddered again. He didn't know why he was so important. Was this why Arthur kept him around for so long? Didn't leave him for dead when he was asleep in the forest?

"There is nothing special about him," Arthur spoke. "He's just been following me for the past couple weeks." That was a lie. Why did he lie for Alfred?

"Be quiet, Arthur," the man growled.

"I'm telling you that he's just some random kid," Alfred could feel that familiar sensation tingle up his spine. "There's absolutely nothing special about him."

The man's face brightened and he loosened his grip on Alfred's chin. "That's it," he muttered to himself. "I can tell by your eyes. You are very special indeed."

Alfred made a noise, making sure it sounded as much like "huh?" as possible.

"You have no idea your potential, da?" the man giggled.

"As I said before," Arthur growled and Alfred felt that feeling again. The man giggled again. "There is absolutely nothing special about that kid. You can just let him go now."

"And why would I do that?" the man kept his gaze on Alfred, but he eventually lowered his hand. "He's a Seer."

"He's a what?" Arthur asked, he sounded more concerned that Alfred hoped for.

"There's only been one other Seer," the man giggled once more. "Mathew."

* * *

><p><strong>Gasp! Mathew finally comes into the story! And sorry to all you Russia fangirls, I needed a vilain and he just kinda popped into my head...<strong>

**So, I noticed how loved my last chapter was on Saturday and i decided to write the next chapter ahead of time. And now I have two new chapters in it. Since all you reviewers love me so much, I've decided to write as much as I can, maybe even posting everyday just for you. It helps that I'm on spring break, so I can write all week if I feel like it!**

**A very special thanks to an anon, by the way, for leaving a huge paragraph of a review saying how much they love me. You totally made my day, anon! And I figure I should tell you this now, since I couldn't reply to your amazing review!**

**Please review, so that I can update tomorrow for you guys!**

**And I own nothing...as usual...**


	5. Mathew

_Mathew…Mathew... Mathew!_

It took Alfred a while to remember the name, but eventually he got it. That was his brother! The one that ran away.

"Please do tell me who this Mathew is," Arthur stated, sounding bored behind that man.

The man stood up finally and walked away from Alfred, who sighed with relief. Well, he sighed as best as he could with the gag in his mouth. The man giggled, as if remembering Mathew was funny.

"He was strange, he left his little town before he even turned 17. He said he was older, but I could tell he wasn't. In fact," the man turned to give Alfred a quick look before turning away again, "he looks just like that boy."

Everyone said Mathew and Alfred looked exactly alike in the village. But, Mathew was constantly assuring them that he was 2 years older than Alfred. Was he lying? Why?

"Are you saying they could be twins?" Arthur questioned.

"Da," the man giggled. "And if he's Mathew's twin, he's definitely a Seer."

"There's no way he's a twin," Arthur scoffed as Alfred started looking at the ground. Mathew, his twin? Why would he lie to him like that? "I would have felt that kind of magic on him."

"They have been apart for quite some time. 2 years, da?" the man asked, and Alfred guessed he was talking to him, so he nodded. Magic? What kind of magic came with twins? "And it seems their magic has converted to something else."

Alfred looked up to study his surroundings for the first time. It was another camp, but this one far larger than the last one. There was no fire yet, it was still warm. There were knights everywhere, sitting, standing, walking, it was like they made their own town. Alfred noticed the tree he was tied to was sort of near the outskirts of their little circle camp. And near the middle was what looked like a wooden cage connected to two horses, who seemed to have their own armor on. Arthur was inside the cage, leaning against the far wall from that man.

This was Alfred's first good look at that man. Sure, he had seen his face well enough from him being so close, but that wasn't all. He was rather tall, and his scarf covered up his whole neck. There was a slight wind and the scarf billowed around slightly. He had a completely brown outfit on underneath very scant and very thin armor. The silver metal just covered his knees, elbows, shins, and his chest. And on top of that was a very long, brown jacket. His boots were black with silver lining around the toes.

"And that 'something else' has to do with being a Seer?" Arthur asked, obviously looking like he wasn't believing this.

"Da," the man seemed to be deep in thought. "And if both twins have it, it must be a powerful gift."

Arthur looked like he was about to say something, but there was a loud commotion and yelling coming from in the forest. And then out emerged the Three Musketeers being guided by around 10 knights.

"Get the hell off me!" Gilbert snapped. He looked beyond pissed.

"Ivan," Antonio growled upon seeing that man. "Tell them to let us go."

"Why should I do that comrade?" Ivan giggled as he walked towards the trio. "You let them escape, da?"

"You're working with him?" Arthur scoffed from inside his cage at Antonio.

"Shut up," Antonio snapped at him. "You're not in much room to talk."

"You won't be either, soon," Ivan smiled and Alfred could almost see his evil aura.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Gilbert snapped.

Ivan moved towards Arthur's cage, motioning for the group to follow.

"No," Arthur said. "I am not going to be sharing space with any of _them._"

"Why not mon cher?" Francis asked after he was shoved into the cage. He quickly wrapped his arm around Arthur's waist and moved him closer to his body.

"Get the hell off me, you perverted frog!" Arthur started screeching, desperately trying to get out of Francis' grasp. Alfred felt that tingle again and Francis was practically thrown against the side of the cage.

"I can assure you that I'm not happy to be in there either," Antonio stated, crossing his arms. He turned his attention to Ivan. "Why are you putting us in here? Aren't we important to finding witches?"

"Not anymore," Ivan seemed to be having fun watching the four fight each other in that cage. "I have him," he pointed towards Alfred, who widened his eyes. What was that? How could he help find witches? He still didn't think they even existed.

"Him?" Gilbert asked, dumbfounded.

"I told you he was worth more than you thought," Arthur said, still glaring at Francis.

"You remember Mathew, da?" Ivan smiled.

"Barely," Antonio sighed.

"Birdy?" Gilbert questioned. Birdy? What kind of life did Mathew live out here?

"Da. That's his twin," Ivan giggled.

"Come to think of it, he does look a lot like Mathieu," Francis muttered.

"But you still allowed us to be free, even when you had Mathew," Antonio glared. "What's different now?"

"This one's older," Ivan stated as he started walking towards Alfred. "His powers are much more potent than Mathew's were, too. I can tell by his eyes."

Ivan knelt down to Alfred's side and looked at him intently.

"Again with the eyes," Antonio sighed. "You're basing him off everything you learned from Mathew."

Ivan ignored him, staring intently at Alfred, who was beginning to shudder. He didn't like all this attention from someone so creepy.

"You would want to work with me, da?" he asked and Alfred's eyes widened. A job? What the hell? Alfred shook his head from side to side furiously, he closed his eyes so that he would stop staring at them. "Why not?" Ivan sounded disappointed. And Alfred glared at him.

Ivan quickly moved his hands behind Alfred's head and Alfred flinched. He roughly untied the gag and pulled it out of Alfred's mouth.

As Alfred moved his mouth around to try to get the feeling of that gag out of his mouth, Ivan spoke. "What do you want?"

"What did you do to Mathew?" Alfred demanded and he coughed. His mouth felt so weird from the gag.

Ivan giggled. "Is that all you want?"

"What did you do to Mathew?" Alfred repeated himself.

"I did nothing to him," Ivan smiled, it seemed like he figured that was enough of an answer.

"What happened to him?" Alfred growled.

"Well," Ivan chuckled, as if remembering this was fun, "I forced him to work with me for a while, until I learned about his lying about his age. Someone so young couldn't work for the crown. I heard he was sent to a dungeon to grow up. Apparently he died."

Alfred's eyes widened from his glare. "You killed him?" Alfred demanded. He was beyond mad at this point, he was seething. He tried to fight against the rope tying him to the tree, but that was in vain.

"I didn't, comrade," Ivan placed a hand in Alfred's hair and began to pet it. Alfred could feel a finger brush against his cowlick, which just so happened to be his sensitive area. He felt his face warm up and he suppressed a groan. Ivan didn't seem to notice, but Alfred couldn't help but tell he was petting him in a way that he would constantly brush his hand against the cowlick. "I just sent him off to die."

"That's the same thing as killing him," Alfred growled, gritting his teeth. He felt that feeling creep down his spine again and Ivan looked away from him and towards the cage. Antonio was gripping the bars of the cage hard, but soon his eyes filled with shock and he looked down at his hands in awe.

"Good luck with that," Arthur sighed, leaning against the opposite side of the cage. "If mine barely works around him, I highly doubt you can even get a spark."

"What are you doing?" Ivan asked innocently, he still kept his hand on top of Alfred's head and stayed crouched down next to Alfred.

"Trying to start a fire," Antonio admitted.

"So you can suppress their powers, too," Ivan turned his attention back to Alfred, but he seemed to be off in his own little world, barely paying him any attention. "So that's what those powers are like matured…"

Alfred took Ivan's lack of attention to his advantage and quickly tilted his head up. Ivan's hand didn't follow the top of his head, just kind of stayed there. So Alfred lifted his head up quickly and bit down on the hand.

"Черт возьми! Получить от меня!" he growled at Alfred, who just bit down harder. Ivan raised his other hand and swatted it against Alfred's face. Alfred's face stung and he sat with his head off to the side for a while, until Ivan grabbed his chin forcefully and made Alfred look into his eyes. Alfred glared at him, but Ivan's eyes remained slightly soft. "You will obey me, balovenʹ." It sounded like a warning, but Alfred had no clue what that last word meant.

"And if I don't," Alfred continued glaring.

"So many things I could do to you," Ivan ran the back of one of his hands down Alfred's cheek. Alfred couldn't help but shudder. "Especially now that I know this," Alfred gasped as Ivan tightly pinched his cowlick between his thumb and forefinger. He began to rub those two fingers together as Alfred felt a feeling he had never felt before pool in the pit of his stomach. Alfred had no idea what this meant. The only other person to touch his cowlick was himself, and he tried to stay away from doing that since it felt so weird.

"You're so funny," Ivan giggled, keeping his tight grip on the cowlick. Alfred's blush got deeper and deeper and then he felt something he really had never known could happen. His cock began to stiffen.

"S-s-stop th-that," Alfred could barely stutter out. The last word turned more into a moan as Ivan started kneading his cowlick again.

"I'll have you know Mathew was the same way," Ivan smirked. "With his cute little curl." He seemed to almost purr at the thought of doing this to Mathew. Did that mean… Alfred closed his eyes tightly, as if that would take the image away.

After what felt like a long while, Ivan released the cowlick and stood up. Immediately, Alfred tucked his legs in to hide a certain something that came from what had just happened. His face didn't seem to cool down and he looked over to the crowd in the cage.

Arthur seemed to be dumbfounded, Gilbert looked about ready to start cracking up, Antonio was just about as shocked as Arthur, and Francis was grinning like an idiot, as if he were turned on by what had just happened.

"Shit," Alfred muttered and tried to hide his face with his knees. Thank god his legs weren't tied up.

"You all should rest, da?" Ivan giggled. "We will start moving tomorrow."

"Alfred," Arthur whispered and Alfred moved his eyes just above his knees so he could see Arthur's face. It seemed like he was almost sorry for Alfred. He then mouthed the word "sorry."

Alfred shakily nodded. He didn't know what to do at this point. With that feeling still in the pit of his stomach and his issue in between his legs… He shifted uncomfortably as much as he could against his tree. What was he going to do now? He knew staying with Arthur would turn out to be a bad idea…

But now he knew what happened to his brother. It was only a rumor Mathew died, right? He might be able to find him, if he really was alive. Mathew had been out in this world longer, and probably knows more about this Seer thing. If he was alive.

Alfred shook away that thought. Mathew was alive. They were apparently twins, right? He should feel it if something happened to his twin, right? He'd only heard rumors about twins, that they're magical, that they have this kind of bond that never breaks.

Magic. Alfred was beginning to think of that word differently now. At first, he thought it was just something that didn't exist. But now…Alfred didn't know. He was giving himself a headache and he wanted to move his hand onto his head to comfort it. But he couldn't, it was tied at his side.

Alfred eventually gave up trying to think and decided to see if he could fall asleep. Dreams came quickly to him, and he dreamed of the day his brother left the village.

* * *

><p>"Why do you have to go?" Alfred complained. He was 15, but he still acted like such a child.<p>

"I'm sorry Alfred," Mathew said in his usual soft, whispery voice. He was 17, but he looked younger than Alfred. But he still assured the town that he was 17. "I just have to go."

"Can I go with you?" Alfred asked, his eyes wide with excitement.

"No," Mathew stated protectively. He convinced the rest of the town that he was 17 probably mostly through his maturity. He acted like Alfred's dad when theirs wasn't around.

"Why not?" Alfred whined.

"Because the world is too dangerous for someone your age," Mathew frowned at that. "I'm sorry, but I have to go alone."

"But I want to go with you! It's so boring here!" Alfred complained some more. "And that weird Abigail chick keeps on following me everywhere!"

"You can't tell?" Mathew asked, laughing slightly.

"Tell what?" Alfred asked back.

"Nothing," Mathew sighed, grinning. "Tell ya what, you can follow me to the forest and watch me go."

"I was gonna do that anyway," Alfred said. "What's stopping me from following you?" he asked as he and his brother stepped out of their hut and started moving towards the forest.

"I need you to promise me that you will stay here, okay?" Mathew asked him. "You'll be safe here."

"What do I need to be safe from?" Alfred asked. "I'm strong enough to take down anything that comes in my way!"

"Please promise me," Mathew pleaded as they passed the church.

"Fine, okay," Alfred pouted. He wanted to see what it was like past that forest, see that world all those merchants talked about. "But you have to promise me something in return."

"Like what?" Mathew asked him as they reached the edge of the forest. Alfred sat down on a large boulder and watched as Mathew circled around and stood in front of Alfred.

"That I will see you again," Alfred said, staring right into Mathew's eyes.

"I promise," Mathew said. "You will see me again."

And Alfred watched as his brother weaved through the trees and eventually left his sight, becoming covered in shadows. Alfred felt a tear stream down his cheek.

"Goodbye, brother," he muttered to himself.

* * *

><p>Alfred woke up, he was still tied to that tree and he was still in the forest. The only good thing being that his little problem was now no longer a problem.<p>

Alfred looked around, it was night time and everyone else was asleep, except for a few knights keeping guard around the perimeter.

And then Alfred felt something he had not felt in two years. Something wet trickled down his cheek from his eye to his chin, where it fell down into his lap. His brother couldn't be dead, he promised. It didn't matter that he lied to Alfred and the whole village about his age. He promised Alfred he could see him again.

"Brother…" Alfred sighed, looking up to the tops of the trees.

* * *

><p><strong>Ta-da~ Sorry the ending is a litte sad, it had to be! Either that or a cliffhanger! Take your pick.<strong>

**And I swear this is not going to turn into a RussAme story! I promise you that! It might end up being Russia likes him, but America doesn't like him back. But that's it!**

**And the next chapter mainly focuses on Alfred, but I promise Arthur is going to come back into the story steadily. Promise.**

**Please review, so that I can update tomorrow for you guys!**

**And I own nothing...as usual...**


	6. Daymare

Alfred woke up again, startled by the sounds of everyone else waking up. He could still feel the remnants of that tear on his face so he quickly tried to rub it off with his shoulder. He couldn't show Ivan that he was crying.

"Ah, you're finally awake," Ivan giggled and Alfred could feel himself twitch. He was really annoying.

"Yeah, I am," Alfred stated.

"Ready to move?"

"No," Alfred stated.

"Aw, don't be like that, balovenʹ," Ivan knelt down about a foot in front of Alfred.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Alfred glared at him.

"Still sore from yesterday, da?" Ivan asked, tilting his head.

"Shut the hell up," Alfred growled, but couldn't help but notice that his face was heating up dramatically.

"But you're my balovenʹ," Ivan smirked.

"I am not your anything," Alfred glared at him.

"Really now?" Ivan leaned forward, placing one hand beside Alfred and moving the other towards the top of Alfred's head. Alfred braced himself for what he knew was about to happen.

He felt his cowlick being pressed and that feeling proceeded down his stomach and he closed his eyes tightly.

"S-stop that," Alfred muttered.

"And if I don't?" Ivan giggled and Alfred knew he meant to quote him.

"I-I-I'll bite y-your hand a-again," Alfred tried to threaten, but it came out as more of a whine.

"Will you now?" Ivan asked and Alfred just knew that he was grinning. Before Alfred knew it, something grabbed onto the collar of his shirt and lifted him up. He opened his eyes wide and looked back to his tree where he was just previously tied up. Ivan must have distracted him while his rope was untied. Thank God he had let go of the cowlick.

"The hell?" Alfred muttered before looking back at Ivan.

"You are much taller than I expected," Ivan giggled, he was keeping Alfred close to him, but not close enough that they were touching.

"As are you," Alfred said. He was considered fairly tall in his village, but he still had to look up to see Ivan's face.

"I will give you a choice, balovenʹ," Ivan smiled. "You can either ride with me on my horse, or-"

"I'll take the other option," Alfred said. Anything would be better than being forced to cling onto him to prevent himself from falling off an animal he had never ridden.

"Fine then, you're walking," Ivan's smile never fell.

"I'm doing what?" Alfred asked. Ivan led him over to the cage, which Alfred just noticed had wheels. Horses were being hooked up to it, Alfred noticed as he was led behind the cage. Before he could do anything, Alfred could feel cold metal clamped around his wrists.

He tried to move his arms towards him, but they didn't get very far. After Ivan moved away from Alfred's line of sight, he noticed the metal clamped around his wrists was connected to the cage by a chain. It wasn't very long, he could trail behind the cage by about 3 feet.

"Really?" Alfred struggled against the chain as he heard Gilbert cackling from the cage.

"Kseksekseksekse! He treats you like his toy!" Gilbert looked like he was about ready to fall over laughing. "That's hilarious!"

"Shut up!" Alfred snapped at him.

"So does that cowlick really turn you on?" Francis came over to where Gilbert was.

"A-apparently," Alfred blushed.

"Quit bugging him, you two," Arthur sighed. "He's been through enough."

"I'm curious to see how it works," Francis grinned and Alfred backed away as much as the chains would allow.

"Touch me and see what happens," Alfred warned. Soon, the cage lurched forwards on its wheels, led by the horses. This caused Alfred to trip forwards and nearly slam his face into the cage. Luckily, he caught himself quickly and took a few steps backwards to regain his distance. The cage was moving at such a pace that Alfred had to fast walk so that his arms didn't fall off. He kept on tripping over himself trying to figure out the right pace.

"Having troubles?" Gilbert chuckled.

"Be quiet," Alfred muttered as he finally got the pace right.

"Yeah, that's the good thing about being in here," Gilbert sighed, pulling his hands behind him. "We don't have to walk for this whole trip."

"Would you like to?" Alfred asked. "'Cause I could arrange with Ivan…"

"Shut up," Gilbert said quickly.

"Aw, you don't like him?" Alfred mocked him. "That's a shame." He kicked a rock.

"Would you two quit bickering," Antonio sighed. "It's getting very annoying."

"You're just boring," Gilbert said, sitting down with his back to Alfred. "What stick is up your ass now?"

"In case you didn't notice, we are kind of on our way to die right now," Antonio snapped.

"Think about it this way," Gilbert said. "You're getting a free ride to the palace! Seems pretty awesome to me!"

"A free ride to the palace, where we are going to die!" Antonio snapped.

"No one said you were going to die!" said that cheerful voice that could only belong to Ivan. He rode on his black horse right next to them. "You may prove useful in the future."

"Yeah, like when I die!" Alfred mocked Ivan's cheerful voice. "Then you'll be ever so useful!"

"That's not going to happen anytime soon, Alfred," Arthur sighed.

"So your name is Alfred?" Ivan looked back at Alfred.

"Well, it's not balovenʹ," Alfred said.

"But I like balovenʹ better," Ivan grinned, almost like hearing Alfred speak his weird language made him happy.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Alfred complained.

"Something along the lines of a pet, I think," Gilbert sighed.

"What?" Alfred stopped, but that only got him yanked forward again and this time he really ran into the cage. "I am no one's pet!" he argued as he got back into the cage's pace.

"It doesn't just mean pet," Ivan giggled. "It could also translate to English as darling."

"Ew," Alfred twisted his face in disgust. "Now I really hate that name."

"That only makes me want to say it more, da?" Ivan smiled in his direction and Alfred shuddered. "You really should have taken my first offer. That way we could move faster and be at the palace sooner."

"You could always stuff me in that cage," Alfred offered.

"How far away _is_ the palace from here?" Gilbert asked.

"I don't know," Ivan giggled happily.

Alfred felt that feeling creep up his spine and Ivan was staring at him, looking at his eyes. "About a day's trip at this pace," Arthur said.

"You read my mind, da?" Ivan asked him.

"How the hell can you tell that by looking at my freaking eyes!" Alfred whined. "What the hell happens to them? Do they freaking glow or something?"

"Non," Francis piped up. "Not from what I can tell."

"Then what do they do?" Alfred asked.

"I don't know…" Antonio thought out loud. "It's hard to explain, but something definitely happens. It would be hard for someone to see if they weren't looking for it. It's almost like they're about to change color or something."

"They almost change to violet," Ivan hummed happily. "Mathew's eyes were already violet, and they almost turned blue."

"Can you tell me any more about this Mathew character?" Arthur asked and Alfred looked down at the ground.

"Balovenʹ can tell you, da?" Ivan giggled.

"I told you not to call me that," Alfred muttered half heartedly.

"What's wrong, dude?" Gilbert asked mockingly. "Talking about your twin a sore subject or something?"

"Yeah," Alfred continued looking down, he could feel a tear pooling up in his right eye and he refused to look up.

"He was quiet," Ivan stated.

"You could easily overlook him," Gilbert continued for him. "Birdy wasn't really one for standing out. And he looked so weak, like he couldn't even take a hit or take care of himself that well. Apparently when Ivan took him up, he was near starving. You could easily count his ribs through his shirt."

"If he's Alfred's twin, he came from the same village," Arthur spoke, mainly to himself. "How could he have survived the forest? I could barely make it through there on my own."

"He wasn't on his own when I found him," Ivan said. "When I found him he had a bear. A miniature white bear. It seemed to protect the kid."

"He went everywhere with that bear," Francis laughed. "He treated it like a teddy bear. What was its name again? Kuma…Kumagichi?"

"I heard him call it Kumakijirou," Gilbert said.

"I thought it was Kumachichi," Antonio said.

"Kumajirou," Alfred said. "He always wanted a pet and he said he would name it Kumajirou. But he would keep on mixing up the name the more he said it, because it was so hard for him to remember."

"And you remembered the name?" Ivan questioned.

"Well, yeah. He's my brother. And he listened to me talking about that if I were to get one I would name it Tony. So it's fair."

"I don't quite follow your logic," Francis said.

"But that's sweet," Arthur said.

Suddenly, Alfred felt searing pain all across his back. It was like he was just whipped, but he knew nothing had hit him. He cried out in pain and dropped to the ground, which resulted in him being dragged. He felt an instant pounding in his head and he tried to pull his hands in towards his head, but they were being dragged far ahead of him. He heard Ivan barking orders to someone and he felt more pain across his back, this time much harder.

This had happened before, back in the village. It was a normal occurrence for Alfred, but rarely anyone was around when it happened. It felt like torture and his head was always pounding for a while afterwards. But the occurrences in the past were nothing like this. This one was much stronger and the whips across his back stung like they were really there, but he knew they weren't.

Eventually, the cage stopped moving, enabling Alfred to press his hands to his head and curl up into a ball. He cried out again as the whip hit him in the chest.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Alfred cried out, but those weren't his words. His head throbbed more and more and he was struck again by the whip. He could have sworn he felt blood trickle down his chest and his back, but he knew it wasn't. He tried to reassure himself he wasn't really being hit, but it felt so real...

Alfred blinked and for a second, he wasn't in the forest anymore. He was in a dark chamber, surrounded by gray stones. His arms and legs were restrained and there was a man, holding a brown, leather whip. He raised it and, as it snapped, Alfred shut his eyes tight. He cried out again and dared to open his eyes. He was back in the forest and he heard worried voices around him.

Another hit and he cried out again.

"Please stop!" Alfred cried out, those were still not his words. He had no control over his body, like he couldn't move and he closed his eyes tightly.

"Alfred!"

"Alfred! Are you alright?"

"Can you hear me?"

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" Alfred cried out again, he couldn't stop the tears streaming from his eyes. Those were his.

"Alfred, control yourself!"

Another hit and he could hear the snap yet again.

"Alfred, listen to me!"

"Please," Alfred muttered. "Please stop this." He was past sobbing now. He couldn't feel anything but the pain in those several whips. He yelped out again as he heard the snap and felt the hard impact.

"You liar." _Snap. _"You are weak." _Snap. _"You should wish you were dead." _Snap. _"Pathetic." _Snap!_

Alfred passed out. The very last words he heard were, "I'm sorry." He wasn't sure who said it, but he was pretty sure it was him.

"I'm sorry, brother."

* * *

><p><strong>And so here is this... Don't really know what to say about it, but it makes more sense in the next couple chapters!<strong>

**And we've learned more about Mathew in this chapter! So sweet how Alfred remembered that name for so long... Sigh...**

**Now, I need your help with something, my very kind readers. Originally, I had planned this story where Alfred and Arthur have a platonic relationship. But now I'm starting to think that I should change that...So, I have a question for all of you. Should they be together in the end, like in love? Or should they stay platonic? This may not affect the next chapter, but it will majorly affect the story in the long run. So please help!**

**And I own nothing...as usual...**


	7. Witch?

Alfred woke up with a start. He immediately sat up straight. He was in his bed, the sheets covering his legs. A wet rag fell from the top of his head and into his lap. He was breathing heavily, like he had just had a nightmare.

"Alfred! Honey, are you okay?" Alfred's mom came rushing to his side. She quickly held onto one of Alfred's hands with both of her own.

"Brother…Mathew…" was all Alfred could make out.

His mom shushed him. "It was just a nightmare, sweetheart," she said as she wrapped Alfred into a hug. "It won't happen again."

"Wh-what happened?" Alfred asked, he felt like crying, but he knew he shouldn't.

"They found you passed out by the lake," his mother assured him, pulling him out of the hug and putting him at arm's length. "You've been out for at least a couple days. I was scared you would never wake up. You kept on screaming in your dreams. Are you okay?"

"I was dreaming…" Alfred had to think. "I-It was Mathew! Something bad happened to him! He-he was getting tortured or something! I-I have to help him!"

"Sweetie, it's okay," his mother stroked Alfred's face and calmed him down. "I'm sure your brother is fine. He only left a month ago, nothing bad could have happened to him yet. You're just in shock since he left."

"No!" Alfred cried out! "That was really happening!" He couldn't help but let tears fall now. "He's in trouble! He-he's being tortured or something! We have to help him!"

"Alfie," his mom cooed. Alfred only ever allowed her to say his nickname. "It was just a nightmare, it wasn't real."

"B-but it seemed so real," Alfred tucked his legs into his body.

"It was just a dream," his mother reassured him. "Your brother is fine out there. I can assure you that."

"Good," Alfred sniffled. "Because he said I could see him again. He promised."

* * *

><p>"Alfred. Alfred," Alfred could feel himself being pushed in his shoulder. Who's voice was that? It sounded familiar…<p>

"Alfred!" a voice in the distance shouted and Alfred snapped his eyes open. He was on his side and he could feel grass on his cheek. He sat up quickly, gasping for air.

"Wh-wh-what just…" Alfred tried to say something, but his head began throbbing. He clutched it at both sides.

"Alfred, are you okay?" Alfred glanced up slightly at the voice. It was Ivan. He was sitting down right next to Alfred, his face painted with worry.

"Ugh…" Alfred grumbled out.

"Alfred?" Arthur's voice sounded off in the distance, it was thick with worry.

"My head hurts," Alfred groaned, pulling his legs in so he could curl into a ball. Both of his hands were still gripping his head.

"Tell me what happened, da?" Ivan asked him, rubbing Alfred's back. Alfred didn't care if Ivan was touching him at this point.

"I-I don't know," Alfred muttered.

"You just started freaking out and dropped to the ground, dude," Gilbert said. "We need more of an explanation than that."

Alfred looked up really quickly to see that the four were still crowded in that cage. It seemed that they were in a new clearing. How did Alfred get here?

"How-how did I get here?" Alfred asked.

"I carried you, da," Ivan smiled lightly at him.

"Ugh…" Alfred groaned as he held his head tighter. He curled up more into a ball.

"You sounded pretty pathetic back there, dude," Gilbert laughed, obviously trying to lighten the mood. "You kept on screaming 'stop! stop!' until you passed out."

"I know," Alfred said.

"Was it some sort of a daymare or something?" Arthur asked him.

"I-I'm not sure," Alfred sighed. "This happened before. A lot. Back at my village."

"This happens to you a lot?" Francis asked.

"Yeah," Alfred nodded. "Did I say anything else? Before I passed out…did I say anything else? Other than stop?"

"No," Ivan shook his head. "Did you hear something?"

"I could have sworn I said something…" Alfred muttered. "Maybe it was…"

"Who do you think it was?" Ivan asked him.

"No one," Alfred shook his head, his headache was starting to go away.

"We should get moving soon. Can you do that?" Ivan actually sounded worried.

"Yeah," Alfred sighed.

"You would like to ride the horse this time, da?"

"Sure," Alfred muttered. Ivan helped him stand up. "I-I don't think I can walk."

"I will help, da!" Ivan said happily as he helped Alfred walk towards the black horse Ivan was just previously riding.

"How-how long was I out?" Alfred asked as he shakily walked towards the thing. It looked huge! How was he supposed to get on top of that?

"It was about a day," Antonio said. "Thank God you stopped screaming as soon as you passed out. I don't think I would have handled you screaming for so long."

"Shut up," Alfred groaned. Ivan helped him figure out how to get on the horse. Helping him grab the saddle, put the right foot in the strap, he even helped Alfred push himself up. Alfred had to steady himself of the horse before he got ready for Ivan to get on the horse as well. But he didn't.

Alfred looked questioningly down at him, but Ivan just smiled his creepy smile. "You need all the room you can get, da?"

"D-da," Alfred agreed with a smile.

"Alfred," he heard Arthur mutter and he looked towards the cage, which was beginning to move again. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'll be fine," Alfred assured him as Ivan began leading the horse forwards. The way the horse walked felt weird to Alfred. Jerking from side to side and forwards and backwards, Alfred struggled to stay on.

They moved at a slow pace, probably for Alfred's sake. They followed a trail in the forest for a while. Alfred chose to keep quiet, but the Three Musketeers seemed to be having a party, they were talking so loud. Arthur wasn't participating, he was sitting in a corner of the cage watching. He looked like he was watching Alfred, making sure he was going to be alright, watching Francis to make sure he didn't try anything, watching Ivan to make sure he didn't try to hurt Alfred.

Eventually, the forest ended in front of them, and they came across another town.

"What's with towns and living on the edge of the forest?" Alfred asked, he was feeling much more normal as time passed.

"Listen carefully," Ivan giggled. Sure enough, when Alfred listened, he could hear people yelling and screaming at other people. "Sounds like a witch hunt."

"Lovely," Arthur sighed.

"This would be a perfect chance for me to test your Seer abilities, balovenʹ," Ivan giggled.

"Don't call me that," Alfred complained. "You were getting so far calling me Alfred, too."

"So we're going into the witch hunt?" Gilbert asked.

"Da," Ivan stated.

"They're under mass hysteria over witches," Arthur sighed. "They're gonna attack us."

"Da, they will," Ivan laughed. "It will be fun to watch."

"Just when things were finally starting to get nice," Alfred sighed, "everyone has to go back to normal. And I don't wanna do that Seer thing, or whatever it's called."

"Too bad," Ivan hummed as their little envoy got closer and closer to the town.

"Whatever," Alfred sighed. They emerged out of the forest and all the people in town turned their direction. "So, how exactly does this Seer thing work?"

"Oh, thank God you've come!" a woman came up to them. She was probably talking about the knights all around them.

"Well, do you ever get a feeling? Like when I look at your eyes or when they try to use their magic?" Ivan asked him, completely ignoring the woman.

"You must help us!" said another woman coming up to them.

"Sorta," Alfred rubbed the back of his head.

"Or when they touch you?"

"They're lying! I can't be a witch!" a woman came up behind them.

"Don't touch me!" the first woman demanded.

"Yes," Alfred admitted.

"Then that's it," Ivan said. "You should come down from my horse now."

"Right," Alfred sighed, getting down.

"Are these other witches?" a man came up to the cage.

"Yeah, and we bite, so go away," Gilbert snapped at him. Then Alfred noticed a stone was thrown into the cage and it hit Arthur right in the head.

"No, no, please!" the third woman pleaded and another woman came up to her and joined her. "We aren't witches! You have to believe me!"

"Alfred," Ivan motioned towards the two women in front of them.

"Um, okay," Alfred uneasily walked slowly up to the two women, who seemed to be shaking in fear. "I-I'm not gonna hurt you, okay?" he spoke softly to the first one. "Can I just have your hand really quick? Please?"

The woman giggled. Alfred gave her his sweetest face. After Abigail, he learned a few tricks about women.

"I promise I won't hurt you, I would just like to see something. Please?" Alfred asked again. The woman gave in and held out her hand, which Alfred took.

"She is a witch!" a man came up to them. "We have a witness of one of her spectors!"

"Just one?" Alfred asked. "She's not a witch, so obviously you have a liar in this town."

"Please!" a woman scoffed. "Of course she's a witch, just look at her!"

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Alfred chuckled. "Who is it that accused her?"

"Me," an old, haggard woman walked into the massive crowd growing around them.

"She's a witch, too!" a woman accused.

Alfred noticed that there were now two crowds forming. One around Alfred and the "witches" and the other around the cage. He couldn't quite see what was going on in the other crowd, but he heard angry shouts telling him it wasn't pretty.

"Hold on, then," Alfred said. He let go of the woman's hand now. "Thank you, for your time," he bowed to her and then turned to the other lady that came with her. "May I see your hand now please? It won't hurt."

"What are you playing at?" a man demanded. "Just touching them isn't going to do anything!"

"Your hand?" Alfred asked the lady again. She complied. "She's not a witch, either."

"How can you tell?" a woman demanded. "You're just a kid! You probably don't even know what these witches are capable of!"

Alfred looked over to the haggard old woman. She mouthed a word, "Seer."

Alfred stepped through the crowd and came up to her. He held out his hand right in front of her. "May I see your hand, please?"

"No!" she screeched and she shoved her hands towards Alfred together, they were barely out of reach of his torso. Alfred could feel something tingle down his spine. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Wh-what? No!"

"You okay, miss?" Alfred asked innocently.

"L-lousy Seer!" she screeched and made a move to hit Alfred, who caught her wrist. A familiar sensation washed over him. He felt light headed and about ready to puke.

"I think this means you're a witch," Alfred grinned. It was very hard for him to stay calm and keep his face steady. He was about 2 seconds away from collapsing or something. Then Alfred saw several soldiers go on either side of the woman, taking her by the arms. Alfred let go of her wrist and stumbled back slightly.

Alfred felt a hand on his shoulder that made him jump. "Good job, balovenʹ," Ivan smiled at him.

"Yeah, whatever," Alfred sighed. "So, what's gonna happen to her now?"

"She dies," Ivan shrugged.

"She what?" Alfred turned around quickly, glaring at Ivan.

"She is not important like those 4," he pointed to the Three Musketeers and Arthur.

"You have got to be kidding me," Alfred groaned.

"You want back on the horse, da?" Ivan asked.

"Tempting," Alfred said sarcastically. "But no."

"So you wish to walk again?" Ivan frowned at Alfred.

"Better than that lousy horse," Alfred stated. "I can barely sit on that thing."

"That is because you barely tried," Ivan giggled.

"Shut up and hook me up to that lousy cage so we can get moving," Alfred sighed.

"I don't think I need to 'hook you up,'" Ivan stated.

"What?" Alfred asked.

"You want to go to the palace," Ivan smiled. "You want to see if your brother is still alive, da? If he is, he's in the palace. You're coming whether you think you want to or not."

"Damn you," Alfred groaned.

"You want to ride the horse now, da?" Ivan asked as he hoisted himself onto the horse with no effort.

"Hell no!" Alfred snapped.

"Fine by me," Ivan said as the knights that left with the witch came back. One was wiping off his sword and Alfred shuddered. He had just helped someone get murdered.

And so their little group moved through the village that seemed to sigh with relief. The forests finally ended and they were moving through roads made through farmland.

"So, how you holding up in there, Arthur?" Alfred asked him after a while. He was currently walking next to the side Arthur was sitting on.

"Just fine," Arthur stated. He was currently pressing Francis against the bars on the opposite side of the cage with his foot. "A bit hungry, though."

"Me, too, dude," Alfred chuckled. He hadn't noticed it recently, what with all the things going on around him, but he was starving. He then lowered his voice so that only Arthur could hear him. "So, what are we going to do once we're in the palace?"

"You sure you still want to travel with me?" Arthur asked him.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Alfred nodded.

"Fine," Arthur sighed. "We're going to be sent to the dungeon, I know that for sure. Ivan is probably going to give you the special treatment, let you stay in a fancy room, give you all the food you want. I know I can get out easily, so we just need to find a place to meet."

"You've read Ivan's mind once, right?" Alfred asked.

"Yeah," Arthur said cautiously.

"You can find out where he's keeping me through that, right?"

"Are you saying you believe in magic now?"

"Might as well," Alfred shrugged. "Since I'm a Seer and all that…"

"So, what do we do after I find you?"

"We run," Alfred suggested.

"What about Mathew?"

"I don't even know if he's there or not. I don't think it would be worth the risk."

"I have a feeling, since he's your twin and everything, you're going to be able to feel if he's there or not," Arthur said.

"What do you mean?" Alfred asked.

"Balovenʹ," Ivan called out and Alfred groaned.

"What?" he snapped.

"We are almost there," Ivan said happily.

Alfred looked out to the direction they were walking. It was a giant castle, it appeared to be miles high from their position. It was guarded by a giant wall with several knights guarding the whole thing. There were several towers spouting up and all you could see was the roof of the main building, the wall was so tall. The roofs of all the towers had a purplish hue to them with the sun directly overhead. The main building's roof was the same. It looked like the whole thing was made out of millions and millions of stones.

There was something in there, Alfred couldn't take his eyes off of it. Something was drawing him in, he just wanted to run as fast as he could in there. He wanted to follow his gut and run and run until he found that thing that was pulling him in.

Mathew was definitely in there.

And Alfred was going to find him.

* * *

><p><strong>And determination! Will Alfred find Mathew? Will Arthur be able to get away? What's Ivan planning? Only the next chapter can tell!<strong>

**Thanks to everyone who helped me figure out my question last chapter! I think this means Alfred and Arthur will end up together in the end. Any objections?**

**And please review because it keeps me happy and a busy writer for all of you!**

**And I own nothing...as usual...**


	8. Secrets

Alfred watched as the giant wall loomed closer and closer. This thing seemed to be over 200 feet tall! There was a hole in the side of the wall, which Alfred guessed was for things to go in and out. It was surrounded by knights with their swords drawn and at the ready. They seemed to brace themselves as their envoy got closer.

Eventually, they all stopped and Ivan got off his horse to talk with the guards closest to him. Alfred stayed where he was next to Arthur. He heard some other soldiers muttering to themselves. He inched closer to see if he could hear them better.

"What I want to know is how a _Russian_ is Captain of the Guard," a blonde guard whispered.

"He's so freaking creepy, I don't know how anyone works with him," this guard was brunette.

"Yeah, I feel bad for those 5."

Alfred wanted to stare at them, but that would give away the fact that he was listening in on their conversation. "Those 5…" Alfred ran that through his head. There was the 4 in the cage, which Alfred knew they were probably going to die. And then there was him. What was going to happen to him? The same thing that apparently happened to Mathew? Being locked away forever in a dungeon and killed?

Alfred was snapped out of his thoughts by the cage beginning to move again. He walked with it through the hole in the wall and they emerged into a town on the other side. It was like the town lived all around the palace. There were little houses close to the walls and there were shops all around. There was no grass in here, just cobblestone. Kids were running around and laughing and having a good time. They were playing around with wooden swords, chasing each other around in circles.

Then, Alfred noticed something. It was sort of near the palace. The stones were placed differently on the ground there, they made their own sort of circle. The circle was huge, big enough for probably the whole town to crowd into. On one edge, there was a wooden stage. It looked pretty tall, maybe 5 feet high. There was a wooden arch on top of the stage. Coming from the top of the arch, was a rope with a circle on the end. The circle seemed big enough for a head to fit through.

"That's where we're headed," Arthur stated, seeing where Alfred was looking.

"What does that do?" Alfred marveled at the thing.

"Well," Arthur chuckled slightly, like it was funny Alfred didn't know what it was. "That rope goes around a person's neck, and then they fall. Then the rope catches them before they get very far."

"Doesn't that kill you?" Alfred gaped.

"Instantly," Arthur sighed. "Breaks your neck on impact."

"And that's what they do to kill witches?" Alfred asked.

"Yup," Arthur stated.

"Balovenʹ, come here," Ivan said.

"Really?" Alfred yelled, enraged at his nickname.

"Da," Ivan giggled. "I don't want you to get lost with the cage."

"Go," Arthur whispered.

"Fine," Alfred groaned. He stopped walking long enough for the cage to pass him and then he moved over to the other side and walked quickly enough to be at Ivan's side. Ivan was back on his horse and towered over Alfred.

"And stop calling be balovenʹ," Alfred grumbled.

"But it fits perfectly, for you," Ivan giggled.

"Shut up," Alfred groaned. The only reason he was still walking with Ivan was because he felt something pulling him into the palace. All he wanted to right now was book it into that giant castle and find Mathew.

Eventually, once they got closer to the palace, the cage went off to the left. Alfred watched and it went to this path that looked like it wound underground. He waved good-bye to Arthur and Arthur waved back.

Ivan soon got down off his horse and let some random person lead off to the right. Alfred guessed that was where they kept the horses.

"So, I have a question," Alfred said as they walked towards the huge palace.

"Da?" Ivan asked, tilting his head.

"So, in that one town you just killed that witch on sight," Alfred said. "Why didn't you just do that to Arthur? What's special about him?"

"Well, if you haven't noticed," Ivan smiled, "none of the other witches could use their magic around you, but Kirkland can still use his."

"Yeah, I've kind of noticed," Alfred rubbed the back of his head. "You call him Kirkland, too? Why?"

"There's been a lot of Kirklands," Ivan said. "We've started to ignore their first names."

"So, what is so special about the Kirklands?" Alfred asked.

"They are the most powerful witches, da?" Ivan smiled. "That one is the last one still alive."

"Most powerful?" Alfred asked.

"Da," Ivan nodded. "The Kirklands are known for major disasters, such as earthquakes and volcano eruptions and the Plague."

"What's the Plague?" Alfred asked.

"This is more than a question, balovenʹ," Ivan giggled "How do you not know what the Plague is?"

"I'm…uh…not from around here…" Alfred muttered.

"Da, obviously," Ivan laughed as they came up to the giant, oak doors of the palace. The knights guarding it opened the door for them, but Alfred noticed them staring at him worriedly. It was almost like they recognized him and they were uneasy about seeing him.

Alfred noticed all the guards were like this as Ivan led him through the giant palace. Every time one of them saw Alfred, their gaze followed him until they had to crane their necks to see him.

"So you said Mathew was sent to a dungeon," Alfred said. "Would that dungeon have been in the palace?"

"Don't waste your time looking for him, balovenʹ," Ivan said darkly.

"What if I want to?" Alfred crossed his arms in front of his chest. "There should be no problem with that."

"There is," Ivan spoke. "People shouldn't be poking their noses where they don't belong, da?"

"Yes, because my brother has nothing to do with me," Alfred scoffed sarcastically. "You can't exactly stop me from looking for him."

"Baloven'." Ivan growled.

"You don't intimidate me," Alfred glared at him from the side.

"I should," Ivan giggled and Alfred shuddered. He felt that feeling of doom wash over him again and Ivan gripped his hand tightly.

"Let go of me," Alfred growled at him, trying to wriggle his hand free. He stopped walking, but Ivan resumed like nothing had even happened. He began to drag Alfred down the hall. "Let go!" Alfred demanded.

He noticed the guards were struggling not to look at what was happening, knowing it would upset Ivan or something.

Ivan kept walking like nothing was happening. Alfred tried punching Ivan's arm with his free arm, but that only made him walk faster.

"Let go!" Alfred shouted. "Stop!"

Ivan lurched him through the halls of the palace with Alfred behind him screaming profanities until he stopped in front of a small, wooden door. Ivan quickly opened the door and, without a second thought, shoved Alfred into the room with so much force, Alfred tumbled onto the ground. He rolled over a couple times before looking up. The door slammed roughly.

Alfred quickly scrambled up and tried to slam himself into the wood, but that didn't do anything. He slammed against it a couple more times before he went to slamming his fists into it.

"Ivan, open this door!" he screamed. "Let me outta here! Ivan!"

Alfred tried that for a while before he tired himself out. He eventually slid down the door until he was on his knees in front of it, his head slammed against it.

"Screw you, Ivan," he muttered to himself and turned around, leaning against the door now.

He looked around at the room for the first time. It was a circular room, made completely out of stone. It had a large bed on one side of it, a desk on the other, a bookshelf in the middle and a circular rug right in the middle of the entire room. There was no window, just a few torches jutting out of the walls here and there to light up the room.

Alfred felt his stomach rumble and he realized how hungry he was again.

Eventually, he stood up to investigate the room. He went over to the bookcase to rifle through the books. He had seen these a lot, Mathew liked to read them a lot, but Alfred had no idea how to read those squiggly things on the pages, which there were a lot of them in all of the books. He moved over to the desk, which had a couple pieces of paper on it, along with an ink well filled with ink and a pen.

Alfred sat down in the chair behind the desk and leaned in it. He then stood up and paced over to the side of the bed. He placed his hands on the bed and pushed. It was very soft, it would be nice to sleep in. He then paced over to one of the torches and examined it. He went back to the bed and looked underneath it, see if there was anything underneath.

That was when he heard the door open. There was a clatter on the ground and Alfred looked up quickly from the bed just in time to see the door close.

"Shit…" he muttered to himself.

He looked over to where he heard the clatter and noticed a tray. He moved quickly over to it and knelt down on the ground to investigate it. On the tray was what looked like enough chicken to feed 5 people and a cup filled with milk.

Without a second thought, Alfred grabbed a piece of chicken and stuffed it in his mouth. It tasted fantastic, considering he hadn't eaten since the night his parents died. He shoved the food in his mouth so fast, it probably looked like he was eating as if he were about to die. The only break he took from eating was to take a gulp from the milk.

Eventually, he slowed down his eating enough to pick up the tray and move it over to the desk. He plopped the tray on top of the paper, not really caring about it, and then sat down in the chair. He grabbed another piece of chicken and propped his feet up on the desk and then leaned back in the chair. This food was amazing!

And then, it hit him. He felt searing pain in his head that made him drop his chicken and he had to put his feet down from the desk. The pain in his head felt like someone had punched right in the face. Then he felt like someone punched him in the gut and he curled into himself, nearly falling off his chair. He almost cried out in pain, but he knew better than that.

Alfred closed his eyes tightly and he felt another punch in his gut. He knew no one was in this room, but this pain felt so real. Even more real than out in the forest. When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in his room. He was back in that damp chamber, and he saw Ivan. His violet eyes looked almost black and he looked about ready to kill him.

"I…I'm sorry," Alfred said with words that he didn't say. He didn't know why he was saying sorry. He knew he had done nothing wrong, but that was what Ivan wanted to hear…so… "I'm sorry…"

The voice that wasn't Alfred's but was coming out of his mouth was barely a whisper. It was so raspy, it was like he hadn't been given water for weeks.

"As you should be, Mathew," Ivan grabbed onto his chin tightly and forced him to look into those terrifying eyes. "I should have killed you 2 years ago."

"I-I'm sorry," Alfred muttered, he tried to move his eyes away from Ivan's so he wouldn't have to look into those deep pits of despair.

Ivan roughly released his chin and turned on his heel to leave the chamber. That man Alfred saw before with the whip came into view. This time, he had a knife in his hand. Alfred closed his hands tightly and he opened them again and he was back in his room, lying on the floor. He had no idea when he fell down, but he didn't care.

"No!" Alfred almost screamed, standing up. "Shit, shit, shit, no!" He ran towards the door and tried to slam against it, to no avail. He slammed into it again and again. Then he got an idea. He went to the back of the room, directly in front of the door and readied himself to run. Then he noticed the door crack open. It was probably some dude coming to pick up the tray, but Alfred didn't care.

"Yes! Thank God!" Alfred cried out and ran. He shoved the person out of the way, he didn't care who it was. He ran past several guards, who only came to attention as he ran past. None of them were fast enough to catch Alfred.

He didn't know how he knew where to go, but he followed his gut. He didn't slow down, even when he almost tripped going down stairs. Or when he almost slammed into a wall taking a corner. It was starting to get dark and musty the further he ran through the endless hallways. He could still hear the clanking of armor as he ran.

Eventually, he slid to a stop right in front of a door. He yanked it open, not really knowing or caring if it was locked. "Stop!" he screamed, not caring if he sounded stupid or not.

When he opened the door, he stopped, his eyes wide. This was the chamber he kept on seeing in those visions. There was that man he had just seen before he started running. He had a knife in his hand, some blood dripping off of it.

And then he saw Mathew. His arms were restrained by some sort of chain far above his head and it looked like that was the only thing holding him up, his feet weren't touching the floor. All he had on were some ragged pants, he was shirtless and he had on no shoes. His chest was littered with scars and bruises, as were his arms and neck. Alfred noticed that there was a long, thin line going across Mathew's chest that was seeping with crimson liquid.

Mathew's eyes were wide. They were blank, but they were wide. He mouthed the word "Alfred."

"Mathew," Alfred felt about ready to cry and ran into the chamber.

* * *

><p><strong>Mathew's alive! I can assure you that cut is nowhere near deep enough to kill him, he'll be fine.<strong>

**And we also get to know a lot more about Arthur here, as well! Yay! Arthur is coming back into the story next chapter, and I know this because I've already written it and he's in it...a lot.**

**One thing before I go... I have a pole up on my profile, asking a very important question now that you know Ivan's been keeping secrets. So if you could vote on that pole, I would be ever so greatful.**

**So please review! So that I may be a happy writer and you can be a happy reader! I only got, like, 2 reviews last chapter so...**

**And I own nothing...as usual...**


	9. Feelings

"Mathew!" Alfred cried out as he ran into the chamber. He shoved the guy with the knife out of his way. He didn't know how hard he shoved, but he heard a major clatter off to the side.

"Alfred?" Mathew squeaked as Alfred went and hugged him the best he could with Mathew's restraints.

"I-I'm gonna get you down," Alfred said quickly and looked up at the chains.

"Alfred, wh-what are you-?" Mathew tried to talk, but he started coughing uncontrollably. Alfred felt something hit his face. He swiped it up with his finger and looked at it, he saw blood.

"Shit…" he mumbled to himself and looked back up at the chains. He had no idea how he was going to get Mathew out of those.

"H-how did y-you get here?" Mathew choked out. "I-I told y-you to stay…"

"I'm sorry, Mattie," Alfred tried to look at Mathew's face, look away from the scars and bruises. "I-I was helping someone and I had to break the promise I made to you."

"Why a-are you here?" Mathew asked.

"That would be my fault," Ivan's voice sounded through the room. Mathew's eyes immediately looked up, filled with fear and Alfred turned around, trying to protect his brother. "I should have guarded you more, balovenʹ." Ivan looked far too happy for his own good.

"Don't call me that," Alfred growled.

"But you are my pet," Ivan walked towards them slowly, his boots clunking against the floor.

"Don't you dare touch him," Alfred spread his arms out, as if that would help protect Mathew.

"A-Alfred, don't," Mathew whispered.

Ivan stepped close to Alfred and gripped his chin tightly so he looked up at him. Alfred's eyes didn't lose their hardness.

"I believe I can touch you both as much as I want," Ivan smiled and Alfred growled.

"You dare touch a hair on his head and I will fucking kill you!" Alfred spat, but Ivan gripped his chin tighter

"Will you now?" Ivan giggled and shoved Alfred behind him. Soon, Alfred felt people grab onto his arms and pushed him down to his knees on the ground. Alfred could hear the clatter of armor that told him it was knights. They held him so tight, he couldn't move and one knight held onto his head so he had to look up.

"So, you will kill me if I do this, da?" Ivan said as he picked a random hair from Mathew's head and yanked it off. Mathew winced slightly.

"Don't you touch him, creep!" Alfred yelled, desperately trying to get out of the knights' grip.

"What about this one?" Ivan giggled and pinched Mathew's curl that jutted out from his hair between his thumb and forefinger. Mathew whimpered and appeared to try to shrink back. Mathew had told Alfred about his curl. It did the same thing as his cowlick.

"Let. Him. Go," Alfred demanded and tried again to fight against the hands holding him down.

"What's wrong, balovenʹ?" Ivan giggled. "You seemed to enjoy this when I did this to you."

"Stop that!" Alfred growled.

"For what?" Ivan tugged slightly on the curl and Mathew whimpered louder.

"What?" Alfred asked.

"What will you do for me to stop?" Ivan asked, he started rolling the curl between his two fingers.

Alfred looked to Mathew, stared into his eyes. "I'll do whatever you want me to." Alfred admitted. Ivan looked like he was about to say something, but Alfred stopped him. "_If_ you let him go."

"Can you guarantee that for me?" Ivan tugged harder on the curl and Mathew yelped. It looked like he was ready to rip the thing out.

"I swear I will work for you. I will do whatever you want," Alfred glared at Ivan. "Now let him go."

"That promise is good enough for me," Ivan released Mathew's curl and used that hand to motion something to the guards holding onto Alfred.

Alfred looked to Mathew, who's eyes were wide. He was shaking his head, mouthing "no."

"A-Alfred," Mathew muttered.

Alfred was about to say something, reassure his brother, but something hard impacted with the top of his head and he immediately went limp in the arms of those knights and his world went black.

Alfred woke up bleary-eyed. He felt something soft underneath him and he was warm, almost too warm. His head was on something soft as well. In his position, he was looking up and he saw stone that made up a ceiling.

Alfred sat up quickly to check his surroundings. He was in his room, the room he escaped from earlier. He was in the bed, the sheets fell off of him and landed in his lap as he sat up. His head throbbed.

He then noticed his clothes had changed. He was changed from the rags from his town to something far more impressive. He was wearing a deep red tunic that had a brown belt around his waist. The gold buckle shined brightly with the light of the torches. The sleeves went down to his wrist and the actual tunic went down to almost his knees. He had black, soft pants on underneath that fit him tightly and he noticed brown shoes off to the side of the bed. He couldn't help but think Ivan dressed him.

"Damn it, Ivan," Alfred grumbled to himself as he got out of the bed. He stumbled for a minute as he was still a little disgruntled, but soon steadied himself. After putting on the rather comfortable boots, he looked over to the desk and found a tray. It had bread and butter with a knife on it, along with some water.

Alfred uneasily spread the butter on a piece of bread and nibbled on it as he paced back and forth through the room. He couldn't help but think. Did Ivan let Mathew go? Why did he knock Alfred out? All of these were pressing questions as he paced back and forth.

After what seemed like forever, the door opened. Alfred dropped his half-eaten bread and walked over to the door. Ivan emerged through the door and quickly closed it behind him.

"What the hell was that?" Alfred demanded.

Ivan smiled when he turned around and got a good look at Alfred.

"You look good, da?" Ivan giggled, taking hold of both of Alfred's hands.

"Why did you knock me out?" Alfred growled at him, forcing his hands out of Ivan's.

"Because I knew you wouldn't leave on your own," Ivan said.

"And why wouldn't I?" Alfred asked and Ivan walked further into the room, past Alfred. "You _did_ let Mathew go, right?"

Ivan hummed. "No," he seemed far too happy for his own good.

"We had a deal," Alfred seethed, just about ready to punch that smile off his face.

"Da," Ivan giggled. "But I did not promise anything."

"You dick!" Alfred yelled, he rocketed a fist forward, aiming for Ivan's face. But he caught it. He then pulled Alfred in close to him so Alfred was pressed against his chest.

"You said you would do anything I wanted, da?" Ivan asked.

"Get the hell off me!" Alfred screamed, pounding his fists against Ivan to try to let him go, to no avail.

"Make me," Ivan hummed and used his free hand to tilt Alfred's head up.

"I will k-" Alfred tried to threaten, but he was cut off by Ivan pressing his lips to his.

Alfred practically screamed, trying desperately to writhe out of Ivan's grip.

"You will do what?" Ivan asked after releasing his kiss.

Arthur watched Alfred and Ivan grow smaller and smaller as the cage was led underground on a path. Arthur had a sinking feeling something bad was going to happen to Alfred.

As they went underground, the light from the sky was drowned out and soon they were surrounded by stone walls that curved upward and connected to form a ceiling. The only light was from the torches that lined the walls. He and the Three Musketeers were all sitting each in their own corner of the cage.

"Wonder what's gonna happen to the Seer," Gilbert muttered.

"It appears Ivan fancies him," Antonio muttered. "Poor kid's gonna be raped or something."

"Don't say that," Arthur muttered.

"It appears you fancy him, too," Francis chuckled.

"Shut up!" Arthur snapped at him. "I don't fancy Alfred."

"What if he were to fancy you?" Gilbert asked.

"Can we just stop talking like this?" Arthur snapped, thankful for the lack of light hiding his blush. To be honest, he did like Alfred. This was the only person he had ever come in contact with that stayed with him for longer than a day. He even went to so far as to leave his town, his home, to protect him. Alfred even tried to ward him off, telling him to go away, but Alfred stayed. He even stayed with him when they ran away from the Three Musketeers, after he had been kidnapped and tied up because of Arthur.

Hell, Arthur did just like Alfred. Just thinking about the boy gave him butterflies in his stomach. Alfred was kind, and he was strong willed, he was also very smart, even though he didn't show it much. He was also quite handsome, Arthur had to admit. The clothes he wore from his village did nothing to flatter him.

Arthur was pulled out of his thoughts by someone elbowing him in the side.

"What?" Arthur snapped at Gilbert, who had been the one doing the elbowing.

"I was asking what your plan was," Gilbert grinned, raising an eyebrow. "Guess you were too busy thinking about your boyfriend."

"I told you I don't think of him like that, you twat!" Arthur snapped. "And what do you mean by a plan?"

"You've been through more than your fair share of being captured," Antonio said. "And you've escaped every time. You must have a plan."

"I may have a plan for myself," Arthur glared at him. "I don't know what you're going to be doing."

"Come on!" Francis complained. "You need to help out your fellow witches, mon cher."

"_Don't_ call me that," Arthur snapped. "And I should help you? Just like you've helped out all the other witches you've had killed?"

"Hey! We did that to survive!" Antonio glared at him.

"I've survived just fine without having to stab my people in the back!" Arthur growled.

"Enough talking," a knight yelled. The cage had stopped moving and he was working on unlocking the door. "You're going to be coming with me."

"It has occurred to me that this is a very unconventional method," Gilbert laughed slightly as he stepped out of the cage. Just as soon as he stepped off, a knight grabbed his hands tightly behind him. "We could have easily burned down that cage on our way down here." He sighed as his hands were tied tightly behind him.

"Don't be so sure," Arthur said as Antonio was taken out of the cage. "If Mathew is here and he's a Seer like Alfred, then I doubt you could do anything, he would prevent you from using your magic. And then there's the fact that Alfred is here, too." Now he stepped off the cage and felt his hands pulled behind him painfully and a rope taking some of his skin off it was tied so tightly. "You probably won't be able to even sense a witch right now."

"But you could probably still use your magic, right?" Antonio asked as Francis now got out of the cage.

"Yes, but I'm not an idiot," Arthur stated as he and the Three Musketeers were led through a hallway.

Then, Arthur tuned the three out. He took a deep breath and focused, he was going to see if he could find out where Alfred was through Ivan's mind. With both Seers around, Arthur could feel how hard it was to use his magic, but he tried anyway.

Eventually, Arthur found Ivan and carefully read his thoughts. He was being extra careful this time, taking care not to go too deep like last time. He caught a little too much of Ivan that time and he didn't want that to happen again. That man had some twisted mind…

Arthur just focused on seeing what Ivan was seeing. He felt the knights grab onto his arms to make sure he didn't escape, so he didn't have to worry about losing the crowd. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Soon, he opened his eyes and saw what Ivan was seeing. He needed to be careful, make sure Ivan didn't feel him in his mind. Ivan was walking quickly through a stream of hallways and Arthur had to wonder where Alfred was, but he didn't dare search his mind yet. Ivan appeared to be underground, in the same stream of tunnels as Arthur.

Eventually, he stopped in front of a door and flung it open with all of his might. Arthur nearly gave himself away with the shock he felt at the sight. There was a kid who looked just like Alfred, but he knew he wasn't him. He had chains on his arms holding him above the ground. All he had on was a pair of pants and he was littered with scars and bruises. He had a pretty color purple for his eyes, but they looked so dead inside, it was like no one was looking through them.

"You are becoming a real pest," Ivan spat out. He walked quickly over to the kid, who Arthur guessed was Mathew, and didn't even think twice before punching him right in the face. Arthur felt sorry for the poor kid.

"Sorry," the kid could barely choke out before Ivan punched him in the gut. Mathew looked about ready to throw up everything he had with that punch, but Ivan was relentless and hit him again, in the same exact spot.

"I…I'm sorry," Mathew muttered. "I'm sorry…"

Arthur felt like crying. The kid's voice barely came out as a whisper and it sounded like he hadn't had something to drink for weeks.

"As you should be, Mathew," Ivan grabbed onto his chin tightly and forced him to look into his eyes. "I should have killed you 2 years ago."

"I-I'm sorry," Mathew muttered, he tried to move his eyes away from Ivan's so he wouldn't have to look into those deep pits of despair.

Ivan roughly released his chin and turned on his heel to leave the chamber. He moved his arm towards a man who had been standing in the corner this whole time. Arthur noticed he was holding a huge knife as he stepped forwards.

Then, Arthur heard a thought that didn't belong to him. It belonged to Ivan.

_Good enough of a show for you?_ Ivan asked him.

Arthur severed the connection. He opened his eyes quickly. If that was Mathew, Alfred would probably have felt what happened to him, that was probably what happened in the forest not too long ago. And if Alfred could feel that, Alfred was going to try to save him.

"Now I'm going to be an idiot," Arthur said. He quickly created fire to burn off the rope and shot air at the guards holding onto him so that they flew against the wall. If Arthur was right, that chamber was just behind them. So he turned around and ran that way as fast as he could. He even used a little magic to boost his speed.

He guessed through a couple turns and it seemed like that chamber was a lot farther than he anticipated. That was when he ran into a dead end.

"Shit," Arthur grumbled to himself and turned around. Eventually, he came to a four-way turn. Two of them had soldiers beginning to flood their hallways. So he took his last option and turned left. He tried to run faster, but he couldn't and he was now running out of breath. He could hear the knights behind him, their armor clanging together.

Mercifully, though, he found the right hallway and the right door. The door was wide open and there were a dozen soldiers already inside. So Arthur quickly cast a spell on himself that would make him practically invisible. He tried to look in through the doorway, but the knights were beginning to move out, so Arthur had to press himself against the wall so he wouldn't be touched.

They were carrying an unconscious Alfred through the hall. They were only holding him up by his arms so his feet were dragging behind him. Arthur wasn't stupid, he knew he wouldn't be able to do anything to help, so all he could do was watch as Alfred was dragged away. Ivan followed out after them slowly.

Arthur could barely hear Mathew muttering from the room. "But…you-you promised him…"

Ivan completely ignored it, closing the door behind him. He looked happy, almost satisfied as he left the hallway. Arthur waited a bit to make sure no one else came through the hall and he released his spell from himself. It was getting very hard to hold.

He didn't dare touch the door, he wasn't sure he could handle himself if he saw Mathew in that state again. So he chose to try to see if he could find Alfred.

The palace was like a maze, it was hard to find his way through and stay in the shadows so no one saw him. He had to knock a few people out with a spell because they saw him but, other than that, he went unnoticed.

Eventually, after a whole night of searching, Arthur came across a room where he heard the unmistakable sound of Alfred yelling.

"Get the hell off me, you…" then Alfred was muffled. His voice came back soon. "Stop doing that, you dick!"

Arthur stopped listening, he quickly knocked out the guards around the door with a spell and unlocked the door. He heard a slam against the door, like a whole body was thrown against it.

Arthur quickly opened the door, dreading what would happen. Luckily for him, Alfred tumbled onto him, caught off balance by the loss of the door. Arthur caught him by the arms and he noticed that Alfred had his clothes changed. Arthur nearly blushed, he did look better with proper clothes on. Arthur couldn't help but notice that his hair was extremely messed up.

Arthur looked up quickly, seeing Ivan's terrifyingly pissed off face, and shuddered.

"Oh, thank God!" Alfred yelled. He stood up quickly, grabbing Arthur's wrist and tugged him down the hallway.

* * *

><p><strong>And here was a little bit of Arthur's perspective of the last chapter and half of this one. And all he wants to do is help Alfred! And all Ivan wants to do is rape Alfred. See the difference? Yeah... Next chapter, they try to get away and things start to get intense, so look forward to that.<strong>

**One thing before I go... I have a pole up on my profile, asking a very important question now that you know Ivan's so evil and a major douche. So if you could vote on that pole, I would be ever so greatful.**

**And please review! This story is going to be ending soon...but the more reviews I have, the better the ending will be.**

**And I own nothing...as usual...**


	10. Death

Alfred didn't know where he was running, but all that mattered was getting away from Ivan. He noticed that this new outfit of his was insanely comfortable and easy to run in. He twisted through turns and down corridors easily, dragging Arthur along with him.

"Alfred, slow down!" Arthur shouted at him, but Alfred didn't listen. He kept running, but had to tug Arthur harder and harder as time went on.

Eventually, Alfred jogged to a stop and leaned against a wall to catch his breath.

"Hey," Arthur panted. "You didn't keel over that time when you touched me."

"Happened before," Alfred caught his breath. "Last time we were running away from people."

"Guess I didn't notice," Arthur panted. "So how have you been for the past day or so?"

"Life sucks!" Alfred yelled out.

"That bad, huh?" Arthur chuckled.

"Shut up," Alfred lightly punched Arthur in the shoulder. "We should start running again, I think I hear them coming."

"Where would we be going?" Arthur asked.

"I'm not leaving without Mathew, so we're going there first," Alfred said.

"You sure you can get him?" Arthur asked.

"Of course!" Alfred smiled brightly. "I'm the hero! I can do anything!"

Arthur chuckled as Alfred grabbed onto his wrist. He ignored the nauseated feeling he got and started to run as fast as he could. He trusted his gut once more to lead him through the endless hallways. However, at the end of one hallway, they were greeted by a horde of knights blocking their way.

"Shit, shit, shit," Alfred muttered and tried to turn around, but that path was blocked by even more knights, Ivan in the front of that line. He had a sword in his hands. "Shit…" Alfred muttered again.

"Alfred, I have an idea," Arthur tried to twist his wrist out of Alfred's grasp. "Let go."

"Trying to run away, balovenʹ?" Ivan tsked at Alfred.

"Kinda," Alfred shrugged.

"Alfred, let go!" Arthur went ignored again and Alfred couldn't see the knights to his back stepping forward.

"Now, that's not alright," Ivan sounded like he was scolding a child. "You promised you would do as I said."

"In case you hadn't noticed," Alfred growled. "I haven't been very good at keeping my promises as of late."

"Alfred! Let go!" Arthur nearly screamed.

"Fine! Why?" Alfred could barely get the words out as he let go of Arthur's wrist before fire exploded behind him. He felt that familiar tingle go down his spine as he watched all of those knights get blown away down the hall.

"We're moving," Arthur said as he grabbed onto Alfred's wrist and they began running down the same hall that was just on fire.

"How did you do that?" Alfred was laughing.

"Not easy," Arthur admitted and began to slow down and falter in his run. "And it was very tiring."

"Okay, we're almost out," Alfred reassured him, taking the lead and charging down the hallway. Eventually, he stopped in front of a door.

"Are you sure he's in there?" Arthur asked, panting.

"Yup!" Alfred spoke proudly and kicked the door open. It was the same chamber as last time, and Mathew didn't seem to have moved. There was no one else in the room and Mathew seemed to be asleep. Alfred had no idea how he slept through his door slam, but…

"Okay, be ready to catch him," Arthur said as he walked towards Mathew.

"What are you going to do?" Alfred asked, going into what he believed was the right position to catch Mathew.

"Cut the chains," Arthur rubbed his hands together. Alfred watched Arthur close his eyes and then he felt a small tingle down his spine. That was when Mathew woke up.

"Wh-wha-" he tried to speak but he started falling. Alfred shakily caught him and immediately wrapped him in a hug.

"Mattie," Alfred muttered, afraid to maybe hold him too tight and breaking him.

"A-Alfred," Mathew whispered. It was obvious he was trying to move his arms, but couldn't.

"It's okay," Alfred said, mostly to himself and he put a hand on the back of Mathew's head. "I'm here. Nothing can hurt you now. I-I'll protect you," Alfred felt near tears.

"W-why did you s-save me?" Mathew's raspy voice asked.

"Your my brother," Alfred held him a little tighter. "I couldn't leave without you."

"Y-you shouldn't h-have made that p-promise to Ivan," Mathew muttered.

"You know I'm not good at keeping my promises," Alfred smiled slightly.

"Shit," Arthur muttered and Alfred looked up just in time to see him stumble backwards into a table.

"Arthur?" Alfred asked. "Are you okay?"

"Took a lot more energy than I expected," Arthur seemed to be panting. "Two Seers in the same room, really make it hard to use magic. But it was worth it," Arthur smiled at Alfred and Mathew, as if to say, "to see you happy."

Alfred nodded to him, smiling back before he went back to Mathew. He asked a question he had been afraid to ask even himself.

"Wh-why did they do this to you?" Alfred asked shakily, he was still nowhere close to letting him go.

"I-I lied…" Mathew admitted.

"About your age? That's not enough for all that," Alfred muttered.

"A-about everything," Mathew spoke wearily.

"What do you-" Alfred tried to speak, but he heard familiar thunking steps behind him and Mathew started shaking.

"Not everything, da?" Ivan giggled. "You told us your name."

"You are not going to touch him!" Alfred growled, holding on to Mathew tighter. He was getting ready to turn around and run from Ivan.

"He lied about his age," Ivan took a step forwards, "he lied about his family," another step, "he lied about his abilities," step, "and he lied about witches." Step.

"What do you mean?" Alfred didn't turn around, he wanted all of his body to block Ivan from Mathew.

"I-I detected a-a-a lot of w-witches, but I-I didn't…I didn't say anything…" Mathew muttered. "I-I d-didn't want them to-to get killed…"

"Hiding one witch is a capital offense," Arthur said, still sounding extremely tired.

"But hiding a hundred," Ivan sounded like he was smirking, "is worth a punishment worse than death, da?"

"A-A hundred?" Alfred's eyes widened and he heard Ivan step closer once more. He was extremely close now.

"You will get off now, da?" Ivan gripped the back collar of Alfred's tunic and nearly lifted him up off the ground. The shock of the sudden lift caused Alfred to let go of Mathew, who was now swarmed by knights.

"No! Mathew!" Alfred struggled to try to get out of Ivan's grasp. "Let me go!"

Mathew was led to the front of the room and Ivan forced Alfred to turn around. A knight unsheathed his sword and all Alfred could see was the back of Mathew, who was stumbling and struggling to stay up. The knight grabbed onto the back of Mathew's neck and brought his sword to the front.

"Mathew!" Alfred cried out and tried to get away from Ivan, but instead, Ivan gripped tightly onto his arms and made him stay put.

The knight slid his sword across Mathew and it was obvious it broke skin from the sound. It was painfully obvious from this position that it slid across his throat. The knight pulled his sword away and it was soaked with blood. Mathew fell onto the floor with a loud thud.

"Mathew!" Alfred screamed, he felt tears coursing down his face. Before he knew what he was doing, he slammed his body backwards, aiming to catch Ivan off guard. Which he did. He eventually slammed Ivan against a wall as hard as he could. Ivan wheezed and Alfred grinned, he knocked the wind out of him.

Alfred made a move to go towards Mathew, but someone grabbed hold of his wrist. Alfred immediately felt sick to his stomach and his head was throbbing. He knew immediately Arthur was the one who grabbed his wrist.

"Arthur, let go of me!" Alfred demanded.

"I'm sorry, but we have to go," Arthur's eyes were pleading as he began to lead Alfred out the door. Alfred could barely fight back with the feeling he got from Arthur touching him.

"No! I can't leave without Mathew!" Alfred screamed.

"And I can't let you die!" Arthur stared at Alfred for a second and then started running through the hall, going the same way that they had come from.

Alfred tried to struggle out of his grip, but it was all in vain. Arthur led him through several hallways until they reached a door. Arthur opened it up quickly and ran in. Alfred noticed they were now running up a large circular staircase.

"I don't think this is a very good idea," Alfred said.

"No, it's not," Arthur muttered. "But it works."

"Works for what?" Alfred snapped.

"You'll see," Arthur sighed. When the staircase ended, there was a door, which Arthur opened quickly. The two stepped out onto what Alfred guessed was the top of a tower. It was almost circular, except for the door that cut it off just past halfway. There was about a three foot tall wall around the ends that stood as the barrier from standing on the tower and falling about 100 feet. It was pouring rain and it seemed like it was nighttime, it was so dark.

Arthur forced Alfred to move to almost the edge. He was moving so deliberately, it was like he was planning something. He moved to the right of Alfred.

"A-Arthur, you can let go of me now," Alfred muttered. "I'm not gonna be running anywhere up here."

"No, I don't want to let go yet," Arthur looked down at the ground and Alfred began to hear the clink of armor.

"What are you planning?" Alfred asked him and Arthur turned to be face to face with Alfred.

"Alfred," Arthur carefully and delicately placed his first finger underneath Alfred's chin and his thumb on top of it. Alfred's eyes grew wide. "Can you trust me?"

"I-I think so," Alfred stuttered. He knew what was about to happen and he wasn't sure if he wanted it or not. The clanking of armor stopped, but Alfred could hear the rain hitting metal in the distance.

"Then don't freak out," Arthur stood on his toes to reach Alfred, considering he was taller than him and kissed him softly.

Alfred's eyes widened even more for a moment. That feeling he got from Arthur touching him nearly doubled, probably mostly from the butterflies in his own stomach. He was about to close his eyes and kiss back when Arthur pulled away. He kept his face close to Alfred's and Alfred noticed for the first time that he smelled sweet. How could he have not noticed before? Arthur was… He was…

"A-Arthur…" Alfred could barely get a word out of his mouth. "I…"

"I…I know you don't think of me like that," Arthur muttered, making sure to keep quiet. "And I don't think of you like that," Alfred noticed hurt in his eyes. He was lying. "But he does."

Arthur motioned his head to the knights off to the side. Alfred looked over slightly to see Ivan, who appeared outraged. There was a knight right next to him that had a bow in his hand, an arrow poised at the ready.

Before Alfred could do anything, the arrow was shot. And then Arthur stumbled. Alfred grabbed onto his wrist tightly, but Arthur still stumbled backwards, closer to the wall.

"Arthur," Alfred muttered. He could see as Arthur stumbled backwards that there was an arrow sticking out of his side.

Arthur looked like he was about to speak, about to say something to Alfred, but he tripped stumbling backwards and fell over the side of the wall.

"Arthur!" Alfred yelled out. He still held onto Arthur's wrist and he nearly fell over the wall, too trying to keep his grip. Alfred felt the rain hitting the back of his neck as he leaned over the side of the wall, trying to keep Arthur from plummeting down to the ground.

Arthur was wincing and Alfred could have sworn he saw red dripping off the arrow.

"I'll tell you, this isn't very comfortable," Arthur said through clenched teeth. Only one of his arms was holding him up, the other one went to his wound.

"Arthur, hold on, I'm going to pull you up," Alfred stumbled through his words. He tried to tug Arthur upwards, but the arrow in his side scraped the side of the tower and he cried out in pain.

"_Don't_ do that again," Arthur groaned. Then he looked up at Alfred. "Alfred, I want you to listen to me."

"A-Arthur…" Alfred muttered, he really didn't want to let go, but he felt Arthur slipping. He couldn't let go now…now that he knew…

"Do you remember, back at your village," Arthur spoke and winced in pain. All of the rain was making his hand wet, he was slipping. "When I told you to forget about me, just go on with your life."

"No," Alfred shook his head. "No, Arthur, don't do this to me." He tried pleading.

"W-work with I-Ivan," Arthur stuttered, it was obvious he was fading fast. Alfred had no idea how much blood he was loosing. "I-I know he…he will f-forgive you. Find…find the e-evil witches. P-put them to…to justice."

"Arthur!" Alfred yelled at him. "Y-you're all I have left!" he could feel tears return. "Please don't do this to me…"

"For me," Arthur winced and Alfred knew he was loosing his grip fast. "Act like…like I never existed. C-continue like you n-never met…never met me…" Arthur coughed harshly and Alfred could see blood come out.

"A-Arthur, I…" Alfred tried to speak quickly, Arthur was slipping fast. "I…I lo-" But Arthur fell. "A-Arthur!" Alfred tried calling out, like that would get him back. He felt someone pulling him backwards and he didn't fight them.

He was pulled backwards a couple feet and then Alfred sat down. He crossed his legs and looked down at the ground. A few strands of his hair came into his line of sight and they were dripping from the rain.

"Arthur…" Alfred muttered to himself. "I-I'm sorry… I didn't…know I loved you…"

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, first thing, PLEASE DONT' KILL ME! Second thing...I have two reasons for not updating yesterday. One, April Fools! Didn't update! Ha...ha...ha... Not very funny, I know. And reason number two... well it was April Fools day and I didn't want you to think that this chapter was a prank, because it's not.<strong>

**I want everyone to pay close attention and I want them to know that the story is not finished yet and please don't take your anger out on me!**

**And remember that poll is still up and I'm gonna start allowing more than one vote, in case any of you have changed your minds...**

**Also, pay close attention to the next chapter. Because I'm going to have a special gift for anyone who can see what clever little thing that I'm doing.**

**I'm gonna say please review here and wince at the fact that most of you are probably gonna be ready to kill me.**

**Just promise me you're gonna read the next chapter, okay? Life will be better then, okay?**

**And I don't own anything...as usual...**


	11. Grey

Alfred felt numb. After the events of that night, he allowed himself to be led to a room. He didn't even bother looking around through the corridors, or in the room he was placed in. All he did was lie down on top of the bed and stared at the ceiling until he fell asleep. He was out of tears, so he didn't have to worry about crying anymore.

The next day, he didn't bother to get up from his bed. He didn't know what to do now. He'd spent the past couple of days in search of his brother. But he was dead. And this whole adventure started with Arthur. But he was dead, too. Alfred was empty, he had nothing left. Naturally, he would try to get revenge. But Arthur's words were still ringing in his ears. He owed it to Arthur to abide by those words.

Eventually, Alfred slid off of his bed. He emptily looked around the room. This wasn't his last room, this one had a window that shed bright light into the room so the torches didn't have to be lit. When he stepped towards the window, he was greeted by an icy wind that he couldn't feel on his face.

He looked out of the window and found that he had a perfect view of that platform with the rope. It appeared that everyone in the town was surrounding the platform. Alfred saw 3 figures on the platform, accompanied by three knights. Alfred knew they were being executed.

The first one to step forward had snow white hair. The rope was put around his neck and then the platform dropped beneath him. He hung limp there for a moment, and then he was taken down. The next one to come up had long, flowing blonde hair. The same thing happened to him. And then came the man with the chocolate brown hair. None of the Three Musketeers fought back, it was like they knew Arthur had died. It seemed…unnatural almost. Like they were just dolls.

"They deserved it, da?" Ivan's voice came out of nowhere and Alfred felt a hand fall onto his shoulder.

"Uh-hu…" Alfred muttered. He didn't have any words to talk with.

"As did Arthur and Mathew, da?"

"Who?" Alfred spoke and winced at himself. Arthur said he wanted Alfred to forget about him. But it was hard. So hard…

"There you go, balovenʹ," Ivan sounded chipper. "Best to forgive and forget!"

"Right," Alfred sighed. He was still looking out the window, even though most of the citizens had departed.

"You would like to eat, da?" Ivan asked.

"No, thank you," Alfred said hollowly. "I'm fine."

"You need to eat something, balovenʹ," Ivan sounded sad, almost like a plaything of his had just been taken away.

"Later," Alfred sighed. He had yet to look away from the window.

* * *

><p>Weeks passed. Alfred learned how to ride a horse. He learned how to wield a sword. And he was beginning to learn how to use a bow and arrow. He had been given a wardrobe of different colored tunics that all looked the same and a lot of black pants. He was no longer given meals in his room, he ate with Ivan in some grand dining hall that Alfred was always forgetting the location of.<p>

During the weeks, Alfred had gone with Ivan and discovered several witches. One was a 10-year-old girl. And Alfred didn't feel anything when her head was severed right in front of his eyes.

It was a rare thing for Alfred to be alone, there would always be a knight at his side when he went about the castle. Always one stationed right outside of his room. He had found that Ivan was avoiding him now, probably because he was no fun anymore with his spirit broken. However, whenever Alfred was alone, he couldn't help but think. Think about that night on top of the tower.

Arthur had talked like he knew what he was doing, moved like every step was planned, and didn't even act like himself right before he fell. Not that Alfred knew him well before that, but he had no idea Arthur would want him to work with Ivan. Or forget about him.

And when Arthur kissed him… Alfred had never loved somebody in the past, so he didn't know what it felt like. But he was pretty sure that was it. The way he felt those butterflies in his stomach and how he forgot that the rest of the world was there. It only lasted about 2 seconds, but it felt like forever.

Why the hell did he have to fall‽

Alfred already felt like his heart was smashed to pieces when he had to watch his brother get killed. But when he watched Arthur slide down the side of the tower, he could feel what little was left in his mind fall with him.

* * *

><p>It was raining again, Alfred noticed one day. The world was more gray than usual as he walked like a ghost through the hallways. He slowly walked to the stables, he recently learned what that word meant, and found his horse. He petted it and wondered when he would ever give it a name. Normally, he would have named it Tony, but that name made him wince whenever he thought about it. Other than Ivan's, there were 5 horses. All of them had a coat of either brown or a light white. Alfred's however, had a red tint to it. It was mostly red, apart from some white spots on it.<p>

He left the stables and went back in to the palace, the rain was starting to dampen his hair and that brought back some bad memories.

He decided to go back to his room until it was time to eat. He changed out of a green tunic and into a blue one and sat down at the desk. He sat there for so long, he accidentally fell asleep.

He dreamt about his town, back when he was little.

* * *

><p>"Hi Alfred," Abigail giggled. Alfred was sitting on the edge of the lake, his feet in the water. He was poking a stick in the water to see if he could catch anything. Alfred looked up happily. Abigail was his only friend, other than Mathew. "My mom made me a new dress, what do you think?"<p>

She spun around to give Alfred a good look at the white dress that was littered with pink flower designs. The dress went down to her shins and he noticed that she wasn't wearing shoes.

"Where are your shoes, Abby?" Alfred asked and Abigail wrinkled her nose in disgust at his nickname for her.

"My name is Abigail, Alfred," she said, but then quickly resumed smiling. "And I outgrew them. Mommy says that I'm gonna grow up to be a big girl!"

"Yeah? Well my brother says I'm gonna grow up big and strong!" Alfred puffed out his chest.

"He's weird," Abigail teased. "He can't be 8, he looks too young."

"Well he is," Alfred stuck his tongue out at Abigail.

"That's not nice!" Abigail whined.

"You're not nice," Alfred argued. "Mathew's my brother! Don't talk about him like that…"

"I'm just saying what everyone else is!" Abigail yelled, tears in her eyes.

"Well no one else is saying that!" Alfred crossed his arms in front of him.

Abigail looked down at the ground and kicked at the grass.

"I'm sorry…" she muttered.

"S'okay," Alfred said, turning his attention back to the water. "Who else is saying that?"

"Mommy and Daddy, the priest, the pig guy…a lot of people," Abigail sat down next to Alfred and started into the water with him.

"What's so weird about him?" Alfred asked.

"Some people overheard your mom talking…" Abigail muttered. "She was talking with Mattie. About how he and you are different and that he had to lie. She said he's gonna have to leave eventually to protect you two. Everyone's acting weird around you guys now."

"And you're still talking to me?" Alfred could feel himself starting to sulk.

"Well, yeah," Abigail smiled softly and Alfred felt her scoot towards him. "You're fun to hang out with."

The scene seemed to almost melt away and turn into something else right then. The green grass turned to stone, the blue sky turned to stone, Abigail disappeared and seemed to flow into the wall.

Alfred was still a kid, but he was in a chamber that he couldn't remember. He saw someone who looked a lot like his brother, but a lot older being shoved around by tough guys wearing metal. Alfred looked behind him and he saw a creepy looking man with purple eyes and a scarf. He looked to be watching the scene before them with joy.

Alfred looked back to the commotion and one of the brutes covered in armor pulled something out. It looked like a long, sharp strip of metal attached to a gold handle. And then the boy's head was chopped off. It rolled to the floor and reached his feet before it disappeared.

Alfred felt something wet hit his nose. And then his head. He felt more and more drops until it turned into a sudden downpour that drenched Alfred to the bone. The floor in front of him dropped off and fell. The people tumbled down to what looked like an abyss.

Someone was screaming at him and Alfred looked over the edge of his floor. Someone was clinging onto the floor, he was barely holding on and slipping fast. All of his body was splattered with blood.

"A-A-Alfred!" the man screamed. He had very messed up blonde hair and it appeared to be soaked with blood. He had green eyes that were pleading into Alfred's. "Help me!" he pleaded. But Alfred just stared.

Alfred felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see the man with his scarf.

"We will go now, da?" the scarf-man giggled and made Alfred turn around, the man clinging to the floor forgotten.

"A-Alfred!" the man screamed once more, his voice was getting further and further away, like he was falling.

* * *

><p>"Arthur!" Alfred stood up, slamming his hands onto the desk. He was safe and sound in his room, he was all grown up. "Oh, shit. Shit, not again," Alfred began muttering and he held his head, sitting back down in his chair. "Why?"<p>

This wasn't the first time he had had the nightmare where Mathew and Arthur died. Alfred knew that wasn't how they died and he didn't know why they had to die that way in his dreams. Alfred felt like crying, but he knew he couldn't do that.

"Excuse me, sir," Alfred looked up to see a knight standing in the doorway. It was time to eat.

"Right," Alfred cleared his throat. "Right, coming." He stood up and soundlessly followed the knight through the hallways. It was still raining outside and the world was still gray.

Once in the dining hall, he slumped in a chair and poked at his food. He was always like this. He had barely eaten in the past few weeks. The table was quiet, as usual. All that could be heard was the clinking of forks and knives on plates. That was, until the peace was disturbed by a loud voice that seemed to be yelling from a distance.

"Is this really what you do when you're not on a witch hunt?" that voice sounded familiar to Alfred and he looked around, trying to find it.

"дерьмо," Ivan muttered.

"Rather boring, in my opinion," the voice sounded cocky and Alfred stood up, still looking around. He could feel something he hadn't felt in a while. A smile.

Alfred stood up. "Arthur?"

"она не может быть…." Ivan muttered again.

"Alfred, turn around, you idiot," Arthur's voice chuckled.

Alfred obeyed and sure enough, leaning against a doorway was Arthur. He was grinning, his green eyes seeming to sparkle. He was sitting there like nothing had ever happened to him. Like an arrow never pierced his side. Like he had never fallen off the side of a tower. The world seemed to wash over with color again and Alfred could nearly contain himself. Arthur had clearly changed his clothes. His cloak had turned red and his shirt and pants were blue. His boots were white.

"Arthur!" Alfred yelled out and discarded his chair and his dignity as he ran over to Arthur. He wrapped his arms around him and hugged him as tightly as he could. Alfred could hear him wheezing from lack of air, but he didn't care. Arthur wasn't dead, he could feel him and he could hear him and he was back.

Before Arthur had a chance to say anything, Alfred released his hug slightly so that he could go face to face with Arthur. And then Alfred lightly placed his hand behind Arthur's head and leaned forward to kiss him. Arthur didn't fight, or tried to back away, much to Alfred's relief. In fact, he kissed back.

Alfred reluctantly pulled away after a few seconds, remembering there were other people in the room. He pulled Arthur into another hug.

"I love you, Arthur," Alfred said, holding on to Arthur like he was afraid he would lose him again.

"Good to know that, love," Arthur grinned. "You're over that feeling you get when you touch me, I see."

"That feeling is nothing compared to what I felt when I had to watch you fall," Alfred muttered, holding on to Arthur tighter. He still felt that feeling, but it seemed like he was used to it now or something. It didn't affect him, almost like it was a numb feeling. It really didn't bother him anymore.

"Impossible," Alfred could hear Ivan behind him and he turned around quickly. Ivan was standing, but he was still at his spot at the table.

"What's the matter, Ivan?" Arthur grinned. "Never seen a dead man before?"

"So," Alfred spoke, pulling out his sword and pointing it at Ivan. "Does this mean I can hate Ivan again?"

"Yes, but we need to get moving. Now," Arthur said, grabbing on to Alfred's wrist and tugging him into the hallway. Alfred nearly dropped his sword and the dining hall left his sight. "We need to get to the others."

"Others?"

* * *

><p><strong>I told you everything was going to be okay! Arthur's alive! And without a scratch on him. Details in the next chapter!<strong>

**And now for something special. I'm gonna be doing a sequel to this thing, if people can figure out a little clever thing I'm doing right now. So just pay close attention to the characters, okay? My clever bit has started in this chapter and will continue in the next one!**

**And please review. You all made my day yesterday when I came home from school and saw all those reviews waiting for me. You totally got me out of a writer's slump! I love you guys with all my heart!**

**And I don't own anything...as usual...**


	12. Problems

"Who are the others?" Alfred asked as he was tugged down the hallway by Arthur.

"You'll just have to see," Arthur spoke, glimpsing behind him to look at Alfred.

"So, if you don't mind me asking," Alfred cleared his throat. "How the hell are you still alive?"

"Long story," Arthur sighed. "But it was a pain in the arse."

"So you used magic?" Alfred asked.

"And a lot of it," Arthur stated. "I really didn't want you to watch me 'die,' but I figured it would be better if Ivan believed I was dead so that I could help the others. And I couldn't use my magic while you were touching me. "

"And you're still not gonna tell me who the others are?" Alfred asked and they stopped in front of a door Alfred knew led to the stables.

"No," Arthur shook his head and placed a hand on the handle. He was grinning like he couldn't contain his happiness. "But I can show you who they are."

He opened the door and Alfred couldn't believe his eyes. In the stables, he saw Gilbert and Francis leaning against a wooden fence. Antonio was right in front of them with his arms crossed, like they had done something bad. They all had changed clothes, too. Gilbert was wearing a white outfit and cape with black boots and a black belt. Francis had a blue cape with red pants and white boots. Antonio had a red shirt and boots with yellow pants.

"Holy shit, the Three Musketeers?" Alfred freaked out and ran into the room. "But I watched you guys die out of my window!"

"Hey, Seer!" Gilbert smiled at him like nothing was wrong in the world.

"That wasn't really us," Antonio seemed to really wanted to smile.

"Mon cher made dummies to look like us," Francis grinned. "Clever of him, non?"

"Besides, I'm too awesome to get hanged," Gilbert boasted.

"Dude, that's so cool!" Alfred hugged Arthur, who blushed and began acting flustered.

"Well, then," Arthur straightened out his clothes as soon as Alfred released him. "There's still one more surprise I'm sure you'll enjoy."

"What are you-" Alfred began, but he was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Alfred!" the voice whispered as Alfred was wrapped in a hug. A familiar, peppy curl was shoved in his face.

"M-Mattie?" Alfred asked and then hugged back with all of his might. "Mattie!" Soon, Alfred reluctantly pulled him out to arm's length so he could look him over. He was dressed in a white shirt and red pants. He didn't seem to have a scratch on him anymore. "You're all better?"

"It was Arthur," Mathew smiled happily. Alfred could see life in his eyes, unlike when he saw Mathew restrained. "He helped me get herbs and medicine. He made it all himself in some sort of a potion. But it really helped! Most of my scars are gone now, except for a few deep ones on my back and chest."

"But…but I saw them slit your throat," Alfred muttered.

"It only looked that way from where you stood," Arthur said. "From my angle, it was very obvious they slid the sword across his chest."

"It hurt so much that I passed out," Mathew looked down at the ground.

"Hey, Mattie, it's okay," Alfred hugged him again. "You're alive, that's all that matters."

"Oi, Birdie," Gilbert yelled over to them and Mathew looked up at him. "Come here a sec, I wanna talk with you really quick." Mathew retreated over to the three. It was obvious he did know them before Alfred came along. They talked around like good friends. Soon, though, Alfred turned his attention to Arthur.

"So you really saved him?" Alfred asked him and Arthur nodded. "Thank you," Alfred smiled and gave Arthur a quick kiss. He was blushing like crazy when Alfred pulled away and the rest of the people in the room laughed.

"Very touching," a creepy voice sounded off and Mathew's eyes went wide with horror. He hid behind Gilbert. All of a sudden, Alfred was pushed off to the side and he felt cold metal at his neck and he had to press himself against the wall so that it wouldn't cut his neck. He dropped his sword in the process.

And then he moved his head slightly to look over to where Arthur was. In Alfred's place was Ivan and he was holding a sword and…something else. Alfred had never seen something like it before. It was kind of like a long, brown stick with a pointy, silver bit on the end that was poking Arthur in the throat. It looked heavy and about as long as Ivan's arm, but he seemed to hold it up with one hand with ease.

"Wh-what the hell is that thing?" Alfred growled at Ivan.

"It's a new invention, a rifle, da?" Ivan smiled, but Alfred could see a cold darkness in his eyes. Alfred could see out of the corner of his eye the Three Musketeers taking a step forward, but Ivan just pressed the sword against Alfred's neck harder and poked more at Arthur's neck. "Come any closer and they die," he giggled.

"What does this rifle do?" Arthur asked. He was looking right down the cylinder part of the gun.

"You see the hole on the end, da?" Ivan asked him. "I pull on this lever here and a metal ball rockets right into your face through that. It's powered by black powder. Makes a little explosion inside."

"H-How does that-" Alfred began but the sword was pressed more into his neck and he felt something warm and wet trickle down from the sword.

"So, Arthur's been the one who did all this?" Ivan asked. Alfred could see the Three Musketeers and Mathew nodding. "Then he dies first, da?"

"No!" Alfred protested and tried to move, but that only resulted in Ivan cutting into his neck more.

"You tried to kill me once," Arthur smiled coyly. "And then I came back. What makes you think that I won't come back again?"

"Because this time I do it myself," Ivan smiled. "Or I could always make you suffer, da? Watch poor Alfred writhe and scream in pain. It will be fun, da?"

"Woah, woah, woah," Alfred pressed up against the wall even more now. "N-No need to do that. I-I think we're cool."

Alfred noticed that Mathew was moving very slowly towards the sword Alfred dropped. It was maybe 2 feet from Ivan. So Mathew would have to move quick and move right if he actually got to it.

"D-Don't you need me and Mattie?" Alfred tried to distract Ivan. "Y'know, only 2 Seers in the world and all?"

"I've seen you without them around," Ivan motioned towards the 5 and glared at Alfred. "You're useless. And sad. And broken."

"Oh, but you like it when people are broken, right Ivan?" Alfred asked. Mathew was getting closer…

"Nyet," Ivan snapped. "Broken is only fun when they have hope. You will not after today."

"Okay," Alfred squirmed. "Back to the threatening. How about we sit down and have a nice little talk. Talk this out like gentlemen. Kay?"

"Shut up," Ivan growled and Alfred closed his mouth tightly. He tried to press himself more into the wall, try to get away from the sharp sword. "I will enjoy watching you scream."

That was when Mathew got the sword. He dove for Ivan, but he parried it quickly with his own. Alfred took the loss of the sword at his neck as his chance to tackle Ivan to the ground. The rifle and sword tumbled to the ground and Alfred soon found himself on top of Ivan, who was now on the ground. He punched him right in the face without a second thought.

"Don't you dare move," Alfred growled at him.

"Glad to see you're back, baloven'," Ivan smiled through a bloody nose.

"You're so lucky I don't have a real weapon right now," Alfred clenched his teeth.

"Why, so you can kill me?"

"You tortured my brother!" Alfred screamed. "You lied to me about him! You practically kidnapped me and then you pretend to kill my brother right in front of me face! And then you tried to kill Arthur right next to me! I had to watch every single person I care about get killed! And then you laugh about it the next day! And said they deserved it! _You_ deserve to die! I should kill you right now!"

"And then you'll become just like me, da?" Ivan giggled.

Alfred's eyes widened and his grip on Ivan released slightly. "No, I'm not like you," he shook his head. "I-I'm a hero."

"But you're becoming the villain," Ivan spoke. "Heroes don't kill people. I've seen you kill, da? You didn't even try to look away."

"D-don't confuse me!" Alfred shouted, closing his eyes tightly. "I-I didn't kill anyone!"

"Trying to forget now? Like you tried to forget Arthur, da?" Just hearing Ivan say Arthur's name made Alfred's skin crawl. "That didn't work out so well, either."

"B-be quiet!" Alfred demanded.

"Alfred," a voice said. That one wasn't Ivan.

"I'm not like you," Alfred muttered to himself. "I'm nothing like you. You can't change my mind about what I want to do!"

"Alfred, move!" this was more than one voice, it sounded like 3.

"I already have, da?" that voice was Ivan's. "Look at you now. Poised once again to get ready to kill."

"Why the hell are you affecting me so much?" Alfred demanded. He shook Ivan, practically slamming him against the ground. "_You're_ what's wrong and _you_ did this!

"Alfred," this sounded like a crowd. "You need to move!"

Alfred looked down at his hands. They were shaking. Ivan spoke up, "I watched you break, da? It wasn't hard to do. And you crumbled like paper. Once paper folds, it never goes back to what it was originally, da? There's always little dents. Remnants of the thing that made it bend."

"Shut up," Alfred muttered. "Shut up. Shut up! _Shut up_!" Alfred didn't want to think about that. He knew he wouldn't be able to fully…return since he felt everything get ripped from his heart and mind. But he didn't want to think about it that way. Arthur would help bring him back to sanity. He loved Arthur, love was supposed to make things right…

"Does it always?" Ivan asked and Alfred realized he was thinking out loud. "I had love once. I had sisters."

"No, no, no," Alfred shook his head. "You can't make me feel bad for you!"

"They were ripped from me right in front of my eyes, too," Ivan still seemed to be smiling. "Witches, da? Those were two witches your brother didn't fail to find."

"No!" Alfred shouted. "Mathew didn't kill anyone! You can tell me I've killed. And you can say whatever the hell you want about me! But you can't talk about my brother!"

"Alfred…" a voice muttered this time. It was Arthur, who was directly behind him. The voice seemed to falter, like the one talking was freaking out inside. "I want you to move. Right now."

"Fine!" Alfred spat.

Alfred rolled off Ivan to the right, intent on lying on his back and looking at the ceiling. He was getting ready to thin, try to get himself under control, but something went off that sounded like thunder right next to him.

He instinctively pulled his hands over his ears and flinched over to the side away from the thunder. After it was calm for a moment, he looked up. Arthur was standing not 2 feet away from Ivan's feet, the rifle in his hands. It seemed like there was smoke coming out of the cylinder bit. Arthur's eyes were wide and he looked like he was shakily holding onto the thing.

Alfred looked over to Ivan and his face had a hole in it. There was blood splattered behind his head and the rest of his face was expressionless. He was dead. And Alfred was pretty damn sure there was no way magic could bring this one back.

"Y-you blew a hole in his head," Alfred muttered.

"Bloody hell, this thing was pointed at my head!" he practically screamed and dropped the thing. Alfred winced, afraid it would go off again. Alfred could see tears pooling in Arthur's eyes and he looked about ready to break apart. He was shaking terribly.

Alfred got up quickly and pulled Arthur into an embrace. "It's okay," he tried to comfort him, but he knew it wouldn't do much. He was still trying to comfort himself. He started petting Arthur's head. "You're fine. It's on the ground now, it's not gonna hurt you."

"Did you really kill people?" Arthur asked him, his voice muffled by his face being pressed against Alfred. "Is that what I did to you by pretending to die?"

"You did nothing wrong," Alfred spoke softly, he wasn't even sure Arthur heard him. "It was all my fault. I reacted that way."

There was a sound of a door breaking down. Did Ivan lock the door? And then there was the unmistakable sound of armor clanking down the hallway.

"We need to move, guys," Antonio said somberly.

"Get on the horses, then," Alfred muttered, knowing that there were five other horses in the stables. He didn't want to let Arthur go yet. Ivan's words broke him. He knew every word of it was true, but he tried to deny it. Tried to push that away when he saw Arthur and the others. Love was supposed to make everything okay. Love was supposed to wash away madness. Love was magic, right? But magic couldn't touch Alfred, he was a Seer.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Alfred asked Arthur, pulling away just enough to see his face.

Arthur nodded, "Are you going to be okay?" he asked Alfred and he bit his lip. Alfred didn't know the answer.

Rather than answer, Alfred left to get onto his red and white horse. He situated his blue tunic slightly and looked over just in time to catch Arthur and Mathew hop onto their horses. The Three Musketeers looked just about ready to move.

"Onward then," Antonio said, knowing neither Alfred nor Arthur would be speaking very much anytime soon.

The rest nodded and kicked at their horses to go.

* * *

><p><strong>So...um...pole closed! Arthur won. I bet all of you people that voted for Arthur probably expected him to use magic, right? Well, I did too, but I thought it would be a little bit more interesting if he used this method to shut Ivan up.<strong>

**And I need to thank aphrodite931. She left a very interesting review and told me about something I can't believe I never thought about in the first place... And that's what came out of Ivan and Alfred's conversation. Alfred was broken. And so was Ivan. Ivan didn't come back, and Alfred is struggling to become sane again. I didn't think about that in the past, but I'm thinking about it now.**

**It might be a major conflict if there's a sequel. And no one's guessed the thing I hinted at last chapter to win the sequel. I'll give you a hint. *cough, cough* look at the clothes *cough, cough***

**One last thing. I probably will be unable to update for one or two days. Why? Because life's a bitch. I originally planned this to be the last chapter. But then that thing happened with insanity and made the chapter go on for longer... And now I need to write seven pages and I have school and driver's ed until 10 o clock today and my mom has set a bedtime for me. And then I'm working on my school's play until 5 tomorrow and I also have homework. To sum it all up, life's a bitch. So, I'm so very sorry I will be gone for a couple days.**

**And I don't own anything...as usual...**


	13. New World

The horses raced out of the stable, their riders bent on getting away from the knights flooding into the room. They were shouting angrily. They found Ivan.

It was still raining, but it was getting lighter.

Alfred watched as the town whisked past, women shoving their children out of the way so they wouldn't get trampled, the houses, the shops, and those few people who decided it would be fun to throw a stone and see if they could hit them.

The hole in the giant wall they came through a while ago loomed into view. There were knights there that seemed ready to stop the 6 on their horses at all costs. But Arthur flew his hand forward and to the side. The knights seemed to follow the hand, blasted by some invisible force. Alfred could feel that tingle go down his spine and he noticed Mathew shudder.

The horses soon ran far past the palace. It wasn't even a speck in the distance when they decided to stop for a break. The horses seemed like they needed a rest desperately.

"Well that was fun," Alfred muttered, but he still put on a smile.

"Alfred, are you alright?" Arthur asked him, his green eyes boring into Alfred, but he looked away.

"Yeah, 'm fine!" Alfred said, rubbing the back of his head. "I want to make sure you're okay," he turned his attention back to Arthur. "You seemed pretty freaked out about that…rifle…" Alfred had to think about the name of the thing.

"I was caught off guard," Arthur muttered, his face reddening slightly. "I wasn't expecting that much of an explosion on the inside of that thing. I was sure the wood would have cracked…"

"Alfred," Antonio spoke up. "You did not seem fine when Ivan started talking with you."

"What happened to you while we were recovering?" Gilbert pressed.

"Nothing!" Alfred replied quickly and happily. "Absolutely nothing. Stayed in the palace most of the time, now that I think about it."

"Ivan said he watched you kill people," Francis said.

"Alfred, please don't lie," Mathew muttered. His innocent blue eyes looked right into Alfred's. They looked like freaking puppy dog eyes. The two had perfected that face when they were little in their town. They always got what they wanted. But Alfred knew better. And he wasn't going to let anyone of them worry about him.

"Nothing happened, bro," Alfred kept on smiling. "Promise, 'kay?"

"Fine then," Arthur sighed. "Let's get going to the port as soon as possible."

"Sweet!" Alfred said. And then he paused for a second. "But what's a port?"

"You haven't been to one yet, have you?" Mathew asked.

"Where are you from, the middle of nowhere?" Gilbert laughed.

"Yes," Alfred and Arthur spoke at the same time.

"I've only been to one," Mathew shrugged. "But they're really cool, Al. They're towns on top of the ocean."

"What's an ocean?" Alfred asked.

"I will teach you these things later," Arthur sighed. Alfred noticed that he couldn't help but grin. "Let's get going first. The further we get from those knights, the better."

"Nervous?" Antonio asked and Arthur rolled his eyes as he kicked his horse to go forward. The others followed suit and they were soon off.

* * *

><p>The port was a whole new experience for Alfred. He had never even seen a boat before in his life, so he was filled with questions. They had to ditch their horses before they came into town and led them away, couldn't let the knights knowing they were there. They managed to fit in easily enough, well, except Alfred.<p>

"So where do the boats go?" Alfred asked Arthur another one of his endless questions.

"Well, those are ships, not boats, for one thing," Arthur chuckled slightly at Alfred's innocent questioning. "And they go where ever they are needed. Like Africa or other countries to get important supplies."

"So, how big is the ocean?" Alfred stretched his hands behind his head.

"Fairly large," Arthur said. "I've never been in it, but I've heard it reaches all the way to Asia."

"How outdated are you?" Francis scoffed. "It goes to the New World."

"What's the New World?" Mathew asked.

"No one really knows," Gilbert added.

"I've heard of the New World," Alfred said. "I heard about it in the palace. There's this town there that I heard them talking about that sounded interesting. What was it called again…?"

"First thing's first before we go anywhere," Arthur sighed. "We need to clean up. We should find an inn and go from there."

* * *

><p>They eventually got rooms in the inn, the Three Musketeers wound up having to share a room, Arthur got his own room, and Alfred and Mathew shared a room. They were on a very limited amount of money, so they would only be able to spend one night. And then there was the problem of trying to find a ship to the New World…<p>

"A bath?" Alfred asked Arthur. They were alone in Alfred and Mathew's room, Mathew was talking with the Three Musketeers, catching up probably.

"Yes, you are in need to wash yourself," Arthur stated bluntly. "I'm not even quite sure the last time you did so. I've never seen you do it."

"And I'm pretty sure you never will," Alfred crossed his arms. "You aren't gonna stay in here and watch me. Last time I checked, I didn't need help. I am seventeen."

"Fine," Arthur said, but closed the door to the room, staying inside. "But I need to ask you a question first."

"What, dude?" Alfred groaned. "I'm tired! I just want to sleep."

"Are you sure that you're fine?" Arthur asked him. His face was serious.

"Yes, I told you before, I'm fine," Alfred smiled at him. It was an innocent smile, but it had no depth to it.

"I don't believe you," Arthur stated, leaning against the wall, crossing his arms.

"Arthur, I swear-" Alfred began, but Arthur cut him off.

"Alfred, I want you to know that I really care about you," Arthur said, his expression was not softening. "I need you to tell me how you really feel."

"Arthur," Alfred went over to Arthur, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I swear I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me."

"You're lying, I know it," Arthur practically glared at him.

"How do you know?" Alfred chuckled.

"The way you acted with Ivan," Arthur stated. "That was not fine. And now you're trying to play off that nothing happened. You are not fine and I want you to tell me what is wrong."

Alfred glared at him for a while, but soon his expression softened and he moved forward to wrap his arms around Arthur, holding onto him for his life. He buried his face in Arthur's shoulder to hide the fact that he was about to fall into tears.

"I-I-I'm sorry…" Alfred muttered, he didn't even notice as Arthur embraced him back. "It's just that certain things happened and I…I just want to forget. Please let me forget what it felt like."

"A-Alfred, I-" Arthur muttered.

"I don't want to sink back to the level that he did," Alfred said, meaning Ivan. "I-I don't want to remember what it was like to have all of my family die, when I could have done something to stop it. I don't want to remember feeling my heart ripped out of me as I watched every person I cared about die in front of my eyes. Don't make me…I don't want to sink that low again…"

They stood there like that for a while, Alfred shaking and holding on to Arthur like he was about to die.

"I'm sorry," Arthur muttered and went to petting the back of Alfred's head. "I didn't know that was how you felt."

"I just want to forget," Alfred pleaded. He held on to Arthur tighter. "Please."

"I will let you forget," Arthur said sadly.

"Promise me you'll never leave me," Alfred said.

"Well, you're going to have to promise me the same thing," Arthur said.

"I'm not very good at keeping my promises," Alfred muttered.

"I trust you," Arthur said.

Alfred pulled apart from their hug and took a step back. He carefully looked over Arthur.

"You do?" Alfred asked and Arthur smiled.

"You're the first person I've been able to trust," Arthur chuckled. "You're the first person I've met that hasn't hated me on the spot. You chose to save me over your own mother. And you saved me, when everyone else was killing me. And you stayed with me and tried to protect me even though I had gotten you kidnapped twice. You're the only person I have ever been able to trust so far."

"What about the Musketeers?" Alfred asked him.

"I'm pretty sure our relationship is just them respecting me. Because of my name," Arthur shrugged.

"I wouldn't give a shit if you were a Kirkland or a Smith," Alfred grinned and quickly kissed Arthur. "All that matters to me is that you're Arthur."

"So you really do love me?" Arthur asked.

"What makes you ask that?" Alfred chuckled.

"I'm just making sure you weren't so excited in seeing me again that you lost your judgment," Arthur smiled.

"What judgment?" Alfred laughed. "I've never had such a thing in my life!"

"That's not true," Arthur smiled. "You've judged me and decided I was worthwhile to stay around."

Alfred smiled and kissed Arthur's forehead.

"So this means you'll promise?" Alfred asked him.

"I promise I won't be going anywhere," Arthur smiled at him.

"Then I promise I'm not going anywhere," Alfred said. "As long as you keep your promise."

"Now all that's left is to go to the New World," Arthur said dreamily. "Leave this behind us…"

"Well," Alfred said loudly and suddenly. Arthur nearly jumped in surprise. "If you don't mind, I would kind of like for you to leave now. I still don't want you to watch me bathe."

Arthur laughed. "Fine then. Get some rest, and I will be seeing you tomorrow."

Alfred nodded. "When we leave everything behind."

Arthur left, leaving Alfred to think to himself. A part of him really did want to leave everything behind. Leave everything that caused him pain here, where it belonged. But he still felt a part of him wanting to keep it with him. To remember so he will never do it again. But remembering was a little too much. Because remembering meant that his mind would never to able to fully heal itself. His heart would still have cracks in it that would never be able to cover themselves up. He would never be able to recover from what he had done while he was broken. It was impossible to forget. Impossible to leave behind. It was a burden he would have to carry forever.

And it would drag him down to Hell if he allowed it.

That was Arthur's job, to make sure that he didn't go down that path. Love was supposed to heal, love was supposed to make everything okay. All Alfred had to do was believe that it would.

Alfred eventually took his bath, after he was done thinking to himself. And then Mathew came into their room. It had been a while since they had slept together, 2 years. They had shared a bed back in their town.

Alfred was grateful for Mathew's warmth, considering it was a cold night. That, and he needed someone to hug. And Mathew acted almost like a teddy bear for Alfred, cuddling with him gladly. Alfred had missed his brother and he was pretty sure that Mathew felt the same way. Alfred was happy that Mathew had turned out fine, he was happy that Mathew hadn't been changed with what happened, and he was incredibly happy that Mathew was actually able to keep his promise.

Alfred was able to see his brother again.

* * *

><p>"So, how are we going to get onto the ship?" Antonio asked.<p>

"And how are you so sure this is the right one?" Mathew asked.

"Because I asked around!" Alfred said happily. They were in front of a ship that was bound for the New World. "Some very nice people said that this ship was going to the right place!"

"Where _are_ we going, anyway?" Arthur asked.

"I finally remembered the name of the town!" Alfred spoke excitedly, nearly ready to jump up and down in happiness.

"It's called Salem!"

* * *

><p><strong>And this would be the end. I know it doesn't seem like the end, and that's because it really isn't! There is going to be a sequel...even though no one guessed the clever bit... Wanna know what it was? I will tell you...<strong>

**So, the colors of the British flag is red, white, and blue. Arthur was wearing red, white, and blue.  
><strong>**The colors of the Spanish flag are red and yellow. Antonio was wearing red and yellow.  
>The colors of the French flag is red, white and blue. Francis was wearing red, white, and blue.<br>The colors of the Prussian flag were black and white. Gilbert was wearing black and white.  
>The colors of the Canadian flag are red and white. Mathew was wearing red and white.<br>The colors of the American flag are red, white, and blue. Alfred's tunic and blue, and his horse was red and white.**

**So, anyway, look out for the sequel! It's called the Salem Alfred Trials. You can look on my profile for the summary. But it may be a while before I update it. I want at least 3 chapters written before I upload. **

**And a very special thanks to all of you reviewers who have followed me through this story, even when I accidentally set the two main characters as America and Egypt... Oops! And when FanFiction has been stupid and won't let you see the updates!**

**Anyway, ta-ta for now!**

**And I don't own anything...as usual...**


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